Heroes Of Popstar: The Human Star Warrior
by Azuranaito
Summary: Alexandria Jones was a normal high school girl. But, as fate would have it, she stumbles upon two magical relics that have been in her family for centuries. Now, she has to aid the Star Warriors, Kirby and Meta Knight, to fight a new enemy, one that not only threatens Popstar, but Earth as well. Join them, and learn that there is more to everyone than meets the eye.
1. Chapter 1

Heroes of Popstar: The Human Star Warrior

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OCs**. **Kirby belongs to Nintendo!**

 **A/N: This is somewhat AU to my normal Kirby storyline. There's a BIG difference in this story than my others. First things first, all my usual OCs will be in this story, but there will be some additions. Next, this story will mostly be centered around the main OCs, Kirby, and Meta Knight; other characters like Sword and Blade, Tiff and Tuff- they won't be mentioned much. Trust me, they'll be mentioned, just not as much as the main characters. Thirdly, King Dedede- like in almost all of my stories- will be a good guy. There will be mentions of the main Kirby enemies. This follows after the main story of the anime so really, Nightmare is dead in this. Finally, in place for chapters, there will be episodes. Enjoy the story and don't sue me for the ridiculously long Author's Note; I don't have any money!**

 **Special thanks to jewelsio for drawing the cover to the story. Thanks also goes out to SilverWarriorWolf, for allowing me to use the concepts of Guardian, Ancient, and Distort in this story.**

Episode 1: An Otherworldly Discovery

Alexandria drove home from school again, like she does every other day of the week. She was just a typical high school junior, striving for good grades, trying to stay out of trouble, and hanging out with her friends. But there are some things about her that go past the norms of average high school kids.

First and foremost, Alexandria's family is very wealthy. Her father is a world class lawyer with his own firm and her mother is a famous fashion model. They were usually busy for days on end and Alexandria stayed home by herself and her younger sister, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was Alexandria's ten year old sister, and she was obsessed with one thing: Kirby. The young girl _loved_ the little pink puff and had almost every bit of merchandise regarding him. She wore a Kirby based hoodie with blue jean shorts and pink shoes with blue laces, representing Kirby's skin and eye color. Elizabeth had brown eyes and brown hair, and she wore her hair up in a ponytail, much like Tiff, except she didn't have any beads in her hair like the humanoid girl.

As for Alexandria, she always kept her long, straight brown hair down. It went down to the middle of her back. She was fairly skinny, and she usually wore a black vest with a blue top underneath. She wore black jeggings and red shoes. The two girls walked out of Alexandria's car and walked into their house, which was a large mansion.

The mansion was very pristinely kept, as there was no evidence of dirt or dust, and the mahogany floorboards shined beautifully. When they stepped into the living room, Elizabeth threw down her Kirby backpack, took off her shoes, leaving just her pink socks on. She bounded toward the white sofa and hopped in it from behind, landing a bit roughly on her bottom.

"You really shouldn't keep doing that, Liz, you'll get hurt if you're not careful." Alexandria warned. "I'm gonna be fine, Sis! You need to stop worrying!" Elizabeth giggled. "Shouldn't you be doing your homework instead of watching _Kirby Right Back At Ya_?" Alexandria asked, getting irritated with her sister.

"I dunno, shouldn't you be doing your homework?" Elizabeth asked as she turned on the TV, going to channel 315, which was Anime Network. The new _Kirby Right Back At Ya_ episode was on, but Alexandria took the remote and turned the TV off.

"Hey! I was watching that!" Elizabeth whined. "Liz, you have to do your homework before you can watch the show! You're failing math class, and you need to pull that grade up." Elizabeth pouted with a scowl on her face. "I don't want to do my homework! Not right now! This is the episode I've been waiting to see all week!"

"You'll be able see it later; but you have to do your work!" Alexandria said, her voice starting to rise. "I want to see Kirby beat a rogue demonbeast! I'll do my homework later!" That was when Alexandria had an idea. "Well, if you're not going to do your homework, I'll just take away your TV privileges until you get your work done." The teen walked away.

"No, wait! I'll do it, just don't take the TV away!" Elizabeth yelled. "You promise?" Alexandria asked, a note of smugness in her voice. "Yeah! I promise!" Then Alexandria nodded.

"That's all I needed to hear, sis, but you're not getting the remote back until you get your work done. The remote will be upstairs in my room. I'm gonna go change then go clean out the attic like Mom asked me to yesterday. Don't go in my room until your work is done, got it? Otherwise, you won't be able to see Kirby again for the rest of the month."

Just the thought of not seeing Kirby for a whole month was too much for the girl to bear. Elizabeth grabbed her backpack, took out her homework, and began to work on it. That was when Alexandria walked out of the room and walked upstairs to the fourth floor, where her room, as well as Elizabeth's and their parents rooms were. Some other rooms were on the fourth floor as well. One of them was Alexandria's old room, but most of the rooms were just guest rooms.

Alexandria walked into her sister's room instead of her own room and set the remote down on the desk. It was adjacent to the twin sized bed, and, like everything else in Elizabeth's room, was pink and had a Kirby related object on it. There were three plushies on Elizabeth's bed; which were a Kirby plush, a Meta Knight plush, and a King Dedede plush. Alexandria giggled to herself at the sight of the Kirby posters and drawings and toys in the room. It was an overload of pink that reminded Alexandria of how she was when she was a kid.

 _I have to focus. I'd better go up and clean the attic._ Alexandria thought to herself. The sixteen year old walked out of her sister's bedroom and went to the middle of the hall, where she pulled down a set of stairs leading to the attic. They were pretty much the only rickety thing in the manor, since this was one of the oldest things in the house. Taking a deep breath, she carefully walked up the steps to the attic.

The attic was very very large and very stuffy. Boxes were splayed everywhere, some covered in dust, others covered in cobwebs. Even both on some items. With a featherduster in one hand, she started dusting off the items of more value. There was a display case that was covered in dust that she started on first, then she began dusting some wooden trunks off. After a long time of cleaning, Alexandria decided to stop and look around in the attic. From past experience, she's found several good items in there, from photo albums of her great great great grandparents from the 1880's to old newspaper clippings from the Civil Rights Movement.

As she was looking around, Alexandria came across something that caught her eye. There were two black fingerless gloves in a display case. They had some sort of a gem inside them; a rainbow opal to be precise, and yellow five pointed stars on each glove. As she walked over toward the case to get a better look, she tripped over a very dusty canvas, falling to the floor. Alexandria coughed and sneezed as years of dust billowed all over the place, filling her lungs. She got up off the dirt covered wooden floor and saw another relic that caught her eye.

It was a Victorian style mirror with decor styling made entirely out of gold. The glass was framed inside a delicate yet strong silver frame within the intricate and beautiful gold designs. Another opal that was larger than the gems in the gloves rested within the top of the gold trim. Curious, Alexandria walked toward the mirror and stole a gaze of herself in the mirror.

"I wonder… are the mirror and the gloves connected in a way? They both have rainbow opals." At this point, Alexandria was convinced that the gloves and the mirror _were_ connected. She carefully opened the glass case and took out the gloves. The gems fitted inside began to glow, as well as the gem in the mirror. This was a reaction caused by the gems being in front of one another, where the light was refracting from the windows and bouncing off of glasses.

Curiosity was getting the better of Alexandria, and she began to put on the gloves, fitting the right glove first then the left glove afterward. The opal gems in the gloves and the mirror began to shine very brightly until Alexandria was consumed in the rainbow glow of the gems.

Everything felt warm, and it was a soothing sort of warmth that would make someone fall asleep. It was almost as if Alexandria was going through some sort of metamorphosis. The glow continued for a few more minutes until it eventually subsided, leaving a very stunned and transformed Alexandria in its place.

Alexandria wasn't wearing the same clothes she was originally wearing anymore. She now wore a pink jumpsuit with a five pointed star crest on her chest. She now had silver boots on and a cape that was the same color as the rainbow opals; they were all a transparent red, green, blue, and some shades of purple and orange, a cape made of a rainbow, pretty much. Her hair and eyes weren't brown and blue anymore. Instead, they were both magenta, with Alexandria's eyes a lighter shade- almost a dark pink.

Seeing her reflection in the mirror was a very exhilarating and shocking thing. Alexandria almost couldn't believe that the figure standing in front of the mirror was her! She walked closer to the mirror and tapped it, not expecting what happened next.

Her hand was being pulled into the mirror. Frightened, Alexandria attempted to pull her hand out of the mirror to no avail, which led to the teen getting sucked into the mirror. That surprised her, as she thought that the mirror was just a normal mirror! After a couple minutes of floating in a dimensional space, Alexandria ended up in a closet- a closet of all places!

"Ugh… that was unexpected. But why am I in a closet now? And why is it so small?" She wondered aloud. That began to elicit other voices. "What was that?!" Asked one male voice. They sounded like they had a bit of an Australian accent. "I don't know, but it sounded like it came from the closet." Spoke a second voice, this one sounding female. She had a southern accent that wasn't extremely thick, but that was probably because of her articulation. She didn't sound much older than Alexandria.

"Grab your weapons and prepare for attack if this proves to be a threat." Spoke a third voice. This one, Alexandria recognized because it had a deep, velvety Spanish accent that made her spine tingle. That voice belonged to Meta Knight!

 _Meta Knight? Here?! I thought the Kirby characters didn't exist anywhere but in the games and on TV?!_ She thought with surprise. The door to the closet opened and Alexandria fell on her stomach. "Oww, that hurt…" Alexandria groaned. The knights stared at her with curiosity. It was almost like they've never seen a human before.

"Another human?" Sword asked. "How did she get here?" Blade asked. Alexandria stood up shakily on her feet, still trying to process what's going on. "What is she wearing?" Asked the only other female in the room. Meta Knight stepped a little closer to Alexandria.

"I think I've seen this in one of the journals. A legend about a… _human_ Star Warrior. Sword, Blade, Callie… we might have a new threat on our hands if there is an incarnate of the _actual_ legend standing before us."

All that talk of "a legend" was starting to make Alexandria nervous. "Hold on, now! This is all a big misunderstanding! How could I be a legend to all of you guys? I just found these gloves and a crazy mirror that took me here. I'm just a normal girl… a normal girl in high school." Callie shrugged at Alexandria.

"So was I. But here I am, thanks to a defective portal that took me here. Took me and a friend here over a year ago. So, hey, you can be an average girl one moment, then a Star Warrior the next." Callie shrugged again. "Whatever works, works." Meta Knight nodded in agreement with the teenaged Puffal.

"Well, if what the legends say are true… then we have danger approaching on the horizon. Young lady," Meta Knight said, turning toward Alexandria. "You have inadvertently caused yourself to get into a serious situation." He stated grimly.

"I can't become this hero, I-I have school! My sister can't take care of herself! What about my mom and dad?!" Alexandria asked nervously.

"You're going to have to balance your life on Earth with your new responsibility here. That's all we have to say." Alexandria scowled at the Puffals and the humanoids.

 _CRASH!_

A loud smashing noise was heard from the walls of the castle. They heard a loud roar, and more crashes. "Another monster! Sword, go find Kirby, we'll try to fight it off!" Meta Knight yelled, drawing Galaxia. Callie and the others drew their swords, running out of the room. Alexandria followed them.

When they came outside, they saw a strange, chimeric, quadrupedal demonbeast destroying the houses in Cappytown. It was mostly jet black, but had two legs that had fish scales, one leg that was furry, and one that was fleshy, with blood exposed to the air. It had the head of a bird with deer horns, the body looked similar to a bear's, and it had three tails, one serpent like, another like a feline's, and the third one similar to a dog's.

"These monsters are turning out more and more grotesque every time we find them!" Blade stated, the others nodding in agreement. Alexandria stared at the monster in intrigue.

 _The Chimera, the new monster that they were supposed to fight in this episode… I actually come face to face with it… awesome._ Alexandria thought to herself. The group of knights and the human teen saw a flurry of attacks. The Chimera screeched in fury and pain.

"Did someone call the cavalry?" Sword quipped with a smug sounding laugh. "Quit fooling around and help us! This beast might kill somebody!" Meta Knight yelled. Everyone but Alexandria started to fight the monster. Kirby didn't have a Copy Ability at the moment, but that didn't stop the little guy from fighting. The knights attacked with Sword Beams, Callie swept low at the monster's feet with her sword all while the Chimera was trying to attack Kirby, who was flying around on the Warp Star.

However, the Chimera was starting to grow furious with the onslaught, and with its three tails, smacked Kirby off the Warp Star, then knocked back Meta Knight as far as twelve feet into Alexandria. Sword was picked up by the monster's beak and shaken around like a rag doll, then thrown at Blade. With its hind leg, it kicked Callie into a nearby building.

"Oh, great! Ugh… what are we… going to do?" Blade asked, groaning in pain. "Can we help?" Called out a young voice not far from the warriors and the human. They turned to see Tiff, Tuff, and Victoria.

"Get away from here you guys! You'll get hurt!" Sword called out. "We're not letting this freak show destroy our village!" Tuff exclaimed. "But this is foolish! You will get killed if you go out there!"

All through this turn of events, Alexandria had many thoughts passing in her head. _What can I do? I'm just standing here, I have to help them somehow!_ Then she looked at Kirby. He was climbing back on the Warp Star to fight some more.

 _That's it!_

"Meta Knight!" She cried. "What can I do? I have to have some new weird power inside my gloves. I could use some of that and have Kirby copy it." Then Alexandria got up while holding Meta Knight.

"The easiest attack to utilize is an Energy Blast. Focus, then blast towards Kirby." He instructed. Alexandria nodded, then turned toward Kirby. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She didn't know what to think of doing, so all she did was think of what she _needed_ to do, and that was to attack with an Energy Blast.

 _You have to do this… you have to do this or the town could be destroyed… focus, Alex… use your Energy Blast!_

Alexandria opened her eyes and with a sudden burst of energy, she fired an Energy Blast directly toward Kirby. "Kirby! Use your Inhale!" She cried. Kirby nodded, glaring at the blast, and inhaling the sphere of energy. He leapt into the air and began to transform.

 _Kirby was consumed with a strange unknown energy radiating from his paws. It began to surround him and cause his body to glow. A shining white light enveloped the Puffal and it soon faded, leaving Kirby with a little purple and red cap and multicolored energy radiating from his paws._

"Meta Knight! Is that a new ability? What is it?" Tiff asked. He stared at Kirby, eyes glowing green in deep thought. "I… am unfamiliar with this ability…" He said, dejected with his answer. "I know what ability he has now! It's _ESP Kirby_!" Alexandria interjected.

Kirby blasted the Chimera with psychic blasts, warping in places at times to catch up with the speed of the monster. The monster hissed and snarled at Kirby, who responded with a snap of its beak and a swat of its paws. Kirby disappeared when the Chimera swat at him. Everyone watched with anticipation when he was going to return.

Then, suddenly, with a burst of psychic power, Kirby reappeared and knocked the Chimera off its feet. It couldn't do much in its stunned state. That was when the others moved in. Meta Knight started attacking with powerful Sword Beams. Callie mimicked the knight with her own Sword Beams. Sword and Blade were at closer range to the monster, giving onslaughts of slashes. The Chimera's body at this point was decorated with red, bloody cuts and burns from the psychic powers.

It seemed that the Chimera couldn't fight anymore, but it wasn't dead yet. It opened its beak for one final attack. A blue-white glow began to surge from inside. Everyone braced for what was coming, then the Chimera blasted out its final attack- a move known as a Death Wish, and this was aimed straight for Kirby, but nobody could stop it…

At least, that's what a fool would think.

Alexandria leapt out in front of Kirby with the opals of her gloves facing forward toward the blast, glowing with their own energy. Her eyes- previously magenta, were now a stark white in tuned with a furious glare. The Death Wish was being repelled with Alexandria's newfound power… but she was not phased by this. In fact, the only thing on her mind now was killing the Chimera and keeping Kirby safe.

When the blue-white glow of the Death Wish completely stopped, Alexandria retaliated with a purple energy from the rainbow opals. The energy went straight through the Chimera, causing its eyes to roll in the back of its head. Finally, the Chimera- or the halves of the Chimera in this case- fell over, burning in white hot flames before exploding.

Alexandria's eyes stopped glowing, as did her hands. She turned around and saw a delighted Kirby, still with the ESP Ability, smiling brightly at her. "T'ank you!" He chirped cheerfully. Alexandria smiled back as the young Puffal discarded the Copy Ability.

"Thank you indeed," Meta Knight stated suddenly from behind them. "To whom do we owe the debt of gratitude for saving the village from that dangerous monster?"

"Alexandria… Alexandria Jones, sir." She stated plainly, but with a timid tone. Meta Knight's eyes glowed green for a moment, then back to yellow. He held out his hand. Alexandria grasped it, shaking the knight's hand. "Listen, Miss Jones, I am afraid that you now have no choice in becoming a Star Warrior. You saved Kirby's life, and it appears that you are able to activate your powers whenever it counts. If there is danger on the horizon, then please," He stated, "kneeling" before the teenaged human. "Join us in this fight. If the legends really are true, then we need the assistance."

Alexandria took in a deep breath, then sighed just as deeply. "I'll join you. But I ask _**one**_ thing in return." She stated firmly. Meta Knight nodded in compliance. "I'll join you, but I need to tell my family. My parents will be home three Earth days from now, and that will give you time to do some research on the legends. You'll have to join me on Earth three days from today when the date rolls around. Now, I think I need to go back home."

"I have one more question before you leave. Where did you find your portal at?" Meta Knight asked. "In the attic, why? Are you planning on moving it to my bedroom?" Alexandria asked back. Meta Knight's eyes glowed orange in surprise. "Yes, actually." Then he chuckled in amusement, eyes now glowing pink. "Intelligent girl," He turned away from Alexandria then. "It appears you and I will get along just fine." They started to walk away.

Then Sword walked- or limped- toward them with something in his hands. "The claws of the monster survived the explosion, Meta Knight." Said knight's eyes glowed green as he reached into his Dimensional Cape and took out a strange blue jar with yellow designs on it. He dropped the claws inside and put the jar back into his cape.

"I'll take the claws to Skyla so that she will analyze them. But right now," He stated, turning toward Alexandria. "Let's get Miss Alexandria home."

Finally, everyone walked back towards the castle while the rest of Cappytown started to rebuild the village.

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Meanwhile, in a dark castle at the edge of the Gamble Galaxy, a mysterious, shadowy figure watched the entire scene play out from their crystal ball. The darkness of their room obscured most of their form, but due to the light from the ball, one can make out a humanlike shape hidden under a black cloak. They lowered their hands from the ball, turning toward another, larger figure in the room.

"Mistress," Spoke the first figure. They sounded feminine, and had a faint air of a French accent. "The human Star Warrior, she has emerged at last and defeated the Chimera. What do we do now?" Asked the first figure. "The Chimera was merely a test. I knew she would show at some point… but I expected an adult, not a teenaged girl. No matter though… it will just be easier to defeat her." The second figure spoke. Her voice sounded harsher, and a bit more arrogant.

"Do not underestimate the Star Warriors, Mistress. A mere infant Inhaler Puffal defeated Nightmare." If it weren't dark in the room, one could see the second figure scowl in distaste. "Don't remind me. That puny brat will _suffer_ for what he did to my beloved Nightmare. That human child merely sealed her fate along with the other Star Warriors. I will personally make sure of it, my child."

The first figure nodded at her mistress then turned back toward the orb. Whoever this teenager was, there was one thing for sure:

There needs to be no fooling around.

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	2. Chapter 2

Heroes of Popstar: The Human Star Warrior

 **Disclaimer: *points to other stories***

Episode 2: Alexandria's Role is Revealed; Something Wicked Earthbound Comes

It had been three days since the monster attack, and most of the village was repaired by now. Some of the more damaged houses were still being repaired, but for those that weren't, life went on as normal.

That was the case at the castle, as it was completely unscaved from the recent fight. Meta Knight was in the lower levels with Skyla, in a secret laboratory where the female knight does most of her work. His dark blue cape was wrapped around him in his usual style as he turned toward his elder sister.

"Have you figured out anything about the monster? Its origin or what it even was?" He asked. "Well, the origin of the monster is conflicting, but there's nothing about it in the databases. Is there anyone else offering to lend a hand?" Skyla asked back. "I am unsure. For what I know, only the Cappies whose houses were destroyed were the only known witnesses of the monster, other than ourselves, Tiff, Tuff, Victoria, and well, everyone who fought the damn thing."

Skyla blinked her silvery blue eyes in response to her brother's statement. She sighed and murmured something to herself. "If you find anything about the beast, let me know. I'll let you know if I find anything." Meta Knight nodded at Skyla, then left the lab. He stepped out to the upper levels of the castle, walking to the throne room.

What Meta Knight didn't expect though were the kids talking in a corner not far from the throne where King Dedede was currently sitting at. The blue penguin was skimming through something on a smartphone with a laptop underneath his arm on, ironically, the armrest. Meta's eyes glowed green for a moment before walking toward the kids.

"What is Dedede doing now?" He asked the group in a low voice. "Turns out he actually got pictures of the monster while you guys were fighting it three days ago." Victoria explained. Then the sky blue Puffal-Ferine poked Tiff in the ribs with her elbow (or to the equivalent). "Tell him what you found out about the monster." She said with a grin. Meta Knight's eyes turned orange in surprise.

"You found something out about the monster?! What is it?!" He asked, not holding back his excitement and slight hastiness. It perturbed Tiff, but only slightly.

"The monster you, Sword, Blade, Kirby, Callie, and that human fought is based off a Greek mythological monster called a Chimera. Or at least that's my theory. The Chimera had the head of a lion as well as the body of a lion, but had a goat's head and a serpentine tail. I assume that's what the monster you guys fought would be called as well, due to the body parts being a total mishmash."

"Ah, ok. That makes sense; I remember Callie reading up on something like that a long time ago." Meta Knight mused aloud, eyes glowing a pale green at the memory. "But what of the king? Why is he skimming through images of the monster?" He asked. "King Dedede is curious about that monster too, Meta Knight. He keeps talking about how weird that monster is, and he has questions as to why there are more and more weird rogue monsters coming here. Why he has that laptop though is something _we_ don't even know." Victoria explained.

Meta Knight's eyes glowed green again. They kept watching the penguin king skim away on the phone, occasionally tapping the screen every now and then, until it appeared he was satisfied with whatever he was doing and was now turning on the laptop. That was when the group approached him.

"Sire, is there something you should tell us?" Meta Knight asked, unfolding his cape and crossing his arms. King Dedede glanced over at the navy blue Star Warrior, raising a brow in confusion. "Why are you accusin' me, Meta Knight? I'm just gonna go ahead and say I did nothin' wrong. I was editing the pictures I took of the monster yesterday so I can send them to CS," They heard the laptop chime and Dedede looked at the desktop of the portable computer.

"I'm not doing anything wrong; honest! Y'all don't have to accuse me of nothing no more, I'm curious as to what that thing was and who better to ask than the man who delivered all the demons in the first place?" There was some logic in the king's words.

 _Who better to ask indeed. But the question is: does that beast belong to NME?_ Meta Knight thought to himself.

Those were concerning words indeed. If the monster didn't belong to Nightmare, then _who_ would that beast belong to? Hopefully, Customer Service would be straightforward with his answer instead of dodging questions like he used to.

Although, the former rather than the latter seemed to be the case. Ever since the demon's escape from NME with Lament a long time ago, he seemed to have changed quite a lot. It still strikes Meta Knight with curiosity as to why a demon who seemed so loyal to NME was _so determined_ to run away with another demon.

At the same time though, Meta Knight knew almost nothing about Lament other than the fact that she was the demon salesman's lover and a siren demon.

A chime from King Dedede's laptop interrupted the knight from his thoughts. Glancing at the screen, he saw that the laptop was now on a video chat application. Meta Knight smirked slightly behind the mask.

 _Even if that demon is reformed, it still doesn't surprise me that Dedede still has to communicate with him through a video screen._ He thought to himself as he spied the king opening the chat screen. The familiar face of the former NME employee appeared on the screen.

"I assume the reason you're calling me now at the moment is because of the rogue demonbeast you sent pictures of, right, Sire?" Customer Service asked with narrowed eyes behind his sunglasses. King Dedede nodded in agreement. "Do you know if it's from NME? What's it called?" King Dedede asked.

"Well, when I saw the pictures, I'll be honest; I've never seen that monster in NME, only in books. The beast is called a Chimera, and it doesn't belong to Nightmare." Everyone was shocked by the revelation. "The Chimera ain't from NME? Then where is it from?"

"That question is a bit more difficult to answer. All I remember is that the Chimera was a monster created by a Distort other than Nightmare. I read a book about this specific Distort a long time ago, but I think the book was destroyed when NME was destroyed."

King Dedede scowled at Customer Service, narrowing his eyes at the demon. "You work for my family at the Northern Isles, y'know. Fumi can show you where they keep the legend books in the library there."

Now it was the demon's turn to scowl. "I'm aware, Sire," He stated flatly. "But whenever Fumi is busy teaching _your_ little sister, it's a _little_ bit difficult to ask for help looking for one book among ten thousand in a blasted library three times the size of _your_ throne room. It's not like I have time to research for hours anyway," A second little head appeared in the view of the video screen. The group could see that it was a child, and a baby girl at that. She had red eyes, very pale peach skin, but oddly enough, green hair like Customer Service.

The demon grinned as he saw his child peeking at the laptop. "What are you doing down there?" He asked as he picked the baby up and set her on his lap. "Looks like your kid's getting big. Won't be long, and she'll be taller than you!" King Dedede joked, laughing afterward. Customer Service rolled his eyes, though they couldn't see it because of the sunglasses.

"I know Amaris isn't going to be too tall. Lament is barely taller than me! But, like Callie says: 'whatever works, works'. And I guess that's just going to be how- ow! Ow!"

He was cut off from his statement thanks to Amaris pulling his hair, much to the amusement of everyone on the other side of the screen. But, to their surprise, Customer Service was amused by Amaris, even through the pain. "Don't worry, this happens often. This little one just loves pulling and playing with things!" But soon enough, she stopped pulling her father's hair, and began reaching for his sunglasses. The display was just too cute!

"Having a little trouble over there? Children can be quite the handful, good sir." Meta Knight stated, unfurling his wings and coming into the view of the video screen. Customer Service responded with a laugh. "Like I said before, this little one just loves playing with things," Then Amaris pulled the sunglasses right off her father's face, revealing that he too had red eyes. No wonder he wore those shades all the time; the light could hurt his eyes, they were such a deep crimson red.

"And speak of the devil, there go the sunglasses!" He stated with another laugh. Amaris started giggling and that resulted in a few laughs from the group on the other side of the screen.

 _This is all well and good; it reminds us that we're still leading rather peaceful lives all things considered with the rogue demonbeasts running rampent. But it feels like I'm forgetting something important…_ Meta Knight thought to himself.

"Who was the human in some of the pictures though?" Customer Service asked, breaking the knight out of his thoughts. "I dunno, some new Star Warrior that somehow arrived here under a weird circumstance. Meta Knight's supposed to have a meeting with her today, I think." Dedede stated, which then caused Meta Knight to leap off the throne in a hasty panic.

" _Son of a fucking bitch!_ I _KNEW_ I FORGOT _SOMETHING!_ " He yelled angrily. He dashed out of the room so fast that he almost knocked a few Waddle Dees down. Meta Knight ran straight for his room, where he found Callie reading a book to Kirby, and Sword and Blade playing a game of go fish.

"It's about time you showed, sir. We were wondering where you were." Blade said. "Oh, shut up. I spent too long in the damn throne room, and now Alexandria might be waiting at her home. We need to go _**NOW**_!" With the loud, livid shout from the blue knight, all of his disciples, including Kirby, stood at attention. Meta Knight walked toward his closet where the mirror Alexandria emerged from and from there, took out a small pendant with a rainbow opal inside. The disciples walked toward the blue knight.

"I'm guessing that opal is gonna open the portal, yes? Did Skyla give it to you?" Callie asked. "No; I found it whenever I found this mirror hidden in my closet. It is our key to our trip to Earth." Meta Knight explained. "Poyo poyo! Kaabi can't wait to go to "Aahth"." Kirby chimed in excitedly.

"Quite. I'm curious where this girl lives." Sword added, putting in his two cents. "OK, let's go already. We've wasted enough time as is." Callie interjected. Meta Knight nodded in agreement, then raised the pendant higher, letting light strike the gem and bounce to the other opal gem. The mirror glowed just like it did for Alexandria. The Star Warriors leapt through the portal to Earth.

After a few minutes, they ended up on the other side of the portal, into a bedroom. It was a beautiful blue room with a large television, a large bed, and a mahogany desk, which the mirror was next to. They saw three doors, one of which was next to the bed on the left side, another on the right side of the bed, and a third on the far, top right hand corner.

Meta Knight looked around, an action that his disciples followed suit. He clambered to the top of the desk and saw a blue journal, some textbooks, and two picture frames. Both of the frames had Alexandria in a picture, only she looked different from when she was on Popstar. She had brown hair and blue eyes, and in the picture on the right, and was wearing a blue sweater vest. In that picture, she was with three other people.

One of those people was a young girl with brown hair and blue eyes as well, but she had her hair in a ponytail, and was wearing a pink jacket. Another person, a middle aged human woman with brown hair and blue eyes, was also in the picture, wearing a purple cardigan vest. A middle aged man with graying black hair and green eyes was the last person in the picture. He wore a plain black shirt.

Then Meta Knight looked at the other picture. This one had Alexandria, along with four other girls in it. One was a pale girl with blonde hair put up in pigtails and green eyes. She seemed to be wearing a pastel pink blouse. The second girl had brown skin, dark brown hair tied in a bun and dark brown eyes. She wore a very flashy red tank top. The third girl was a redhead with somewhat pale skin- not as pale as blonde girl, but still pale. She had eyes about as blue as Kirby's. Her hair was somewhat curly and she wore a blue top like Alexandria.

The final girl's appearance, however, both confused and unnerved Meta Knight somewhat. This girl was about as pale as the redhead. She had one side of her head shaved while the other was about to her shoulder in length. That tuft of hair was black, red, and blue in color, and the girl wore a Metallica tee shirt. What was the most unnerving thing about her, however, were her eyes. They were a very deep green, and her pupils were almost catlike.

 _The other three girls… I can understand Alexandria being friends with. But what about the Gothic looking one?_ Meta Knight thought to himself.

"Hey, are you just gonna sit there and stare at the picture? We need to see if Alexandria is here." Callie stated, motioning the knight to the door. "Is that wise though? It appears that Alexandria also has a sister. What if she doesn't know who we are and she panics?" He asked.

"I didn't think of that… but that's fairly plausible. We need to account for her sister, but we need to go on. I checked the clock and it's almost four. We need to find the living room." Callie motioned to the knights. Although Meta Knight was irritated that Callie was trying to take charge, he agreed with her actions somewhat. The blue Puffal started to go toward the bedroom door, and his disciples followed suit.

They wandered around for a while in the manor, lost in the halls. Some of the rooms were guest rooms. Others were rooms where housecleaning items and clothing displays were stored. Sometimes one of the knights would find a small library in one of the rooms. Eventually, they ended up downstairs, to the living room.

"Oh Jesus Christ! This house is freaking huge!" Callie cried in distaste. "It's probably bigger than even the castle. Good thing we _finally_ found the living room." Sword added. Kirby hopped onto the sofa, bouncing and giggling.

"No, no! Don't do that, Kirby! It's rude to do that. And you might get injured."

"He'll be fine, Meta, if he cracks his head open, then we worry. But I have bandages. He'll be fine." Callie said, waving a dismissive hand at Meta Knight. They heard a vehicle pull up at the driveway, and everyone stiffened up. The door soon opened, and there was Alexandria, with the human Meta Knight saw in the picture. Both groups looked like deer in headlights, for two different reasons. The little girl on the left of Alexandria gasped for a second, then squealed at the top of her lungs.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEE! THEY'RE HERE! THEY'RE HERE!" She screeched, running toward the Kirby characters. She scooped up everyone and squeezed them in a big fangirl-driven hug. Alexandria rubbed the back of her head and sighed in embarrassment.

"Sorry about my sister. Elizabeth _loves_ Kirby to the point that she'll probably _KILL_ to prove that he's the best thing in the world." Elizabeth looked up at her sister and made a pouty face. "Kirby is the best! He's so CUUUUUUUUUUUTE! And Meta Knight is so adorable without his mask!" Elizabeth pressed Meta Knight's mask and Kirby's face against her face. The knight grunted in distaste whereas Kirby cooed in delight.

"This is _VERY_ uncomfortable! Put me down!" Meta Knight growled, trying to squirm out of Elizabeth's grasp with little success. "Liz, let them go. You knew they were coming to tell Mom and Dad the news." Elizabeth let the Puffals and the humanoids go, causing Meta Knight to gasp for breath and pant. "Oy, that was hellish." He remarked, standing back up on his feet. Callie smirked at the blue knight.

"Are you gonna be okay buddy? Do you need some more air?" She asked, laughing at her joke. "Save it. Right now, we need to have the meeting. Where are your parents?" Meta Knight asked. "They're usually home at around six. In the meantime, tell me what's going to happen if they approve of me training?" She asked. "I'm going to try and and train you after you get done with school. But if rogue demons attack _before_ you get out of school, we'll try to handle them ourselves. However, I would like for you to get as much training as remotely possible. That monster you helped us defeat yesterday wasn't from NME."

Both Alexandria and Elizabeth gasped at that, for two different reasons. "It's not from NME? How did you figure this out?" Alexandria asked. "We contacted Customer Service. He told us that he read about the monster, the Chimera, in a book during his days at NME. Another Distort created the monster, but we still do not know who it is." Meta Knight explained.

"I have a theory," Callie said, raising her gloved paw in the air. "This Distort has to be similar to Nightmare in some way. Think for a second: if it was created by something, all signs point to a Nightmare-like Distort. That may mean that they have the same powers, and hell, maybe even _LOOK_ the same! But the problem is, all we have to go by for a creator are those claws left behind after it exploded."

"Maybe it's a new enemy! There's been some talk about it on TV!" Elizabeth interjected. "Kid, _Kirby Right Back At Ya_ isn't exactly like our actual life on Popstar. We've watched our own anime before, and all our behaviors are a bit exaggerated. They make Lord Meta Knight somewhat overpowered as well." Sword explained. Meta Knight nodded in agreement. "I agree. I do not know everything, and I have my weaknesses. We all do."

"Well… while we're waiting, what do you want to do?"

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Within the walls of the shadowy fortress, there was an amorphous figure walking about. Her body was obscured in a dark cloak as she stepped through the halls of the fortress. She entered a room, where there was nothing but a rune on the floor and a mirror.

"Open Communication Channel 2-87 Alpha: Contacts on Popstar" Spoke the alluring French accented voice of the figure. The mirror glowed, not unlike the portal mirrors on Popstar and on Earth. Two silhouetted figures appeared on the screen; one that didn't look much unlike a Puffal, except they appeared to have a lack of arms. The second figure had glowing yellow orb like eyes and a catlike appearance. They had no arms either, but they had disembodied hands that had moved seemingly on accord.

"Subject 2-87x and Subject 2-87y. Have you received any information about the Human Star Warrior?" She asked. "The teenager? I'm sure she's back on Earth, Mistress Luciana." 2-87y answered. "Hey hey hey, I think we need to send a beast to Earth to get rid of that brat. You promised that if your plans go well, you'll give us Popstar and the Master Crown!" 2-87x chimed. "Yes, I'll promise you this. But you have the spell to send this next monster to Earth. My mistress wants the head of that girl! We already have too many problems to deal with; we may as well nip this issue in the bud before she becomes a huge threat." From behind the mirror, they nodded in agreement.

"I shall send the beast to you. It is your responsibility that it makes it to Earth. This child lives in Vail, Colorado. There is a portal hidden in the city. Once the beast destroys the Human Star Warrior, then, we can talk about our little deals," Luciana grinned when she mentioned the deals. "If you both succeed, I promise that you get what you wish for."

Subjects 2-87x and 2-87y nodded in agreement. "To be fair, Mistress Luciana, I believe we should also tell you the _other_ reason that I want the Master Crown and that my partner wants to control Popstar." Though they couldn't see it, Luciana quirked an eyebrow at the two. They did see a brief glow from under what appeared to be the hood of her cloak. "Oh? And what is that reason, 2-87y?" She asked, genuinely intrigued.

"Revenge, Mistress. Plain and simple," 2-87y answered. "Revenge on a young Star Warrior that thwarted mine and my partner's plans not too long ago. I believe he aided the Human Star Warrior in the fight against the Chimera. He is also the infant Puffal that destroyed your mistress's beloved Nightmare."

Luciana grinned again, flashing her pearly white fangs. "So, you know of Kirby of the Stars. And you seek vengeance against the boy. You made your deal much better, 2-87x and 2-87y. Fine. I will mention this to my mistress, and we will send you whatever you need to get revenge on Kirby of the Stars. For now, however, I request that you aid me in sending this monster to the Human Star Warrior's home town." The two figures nodded in agreement.

"Wait, why her home town? Wouldn't it be easier to send it to her actual home?" 2-87x asked. "Well, the problem is, if we do not know where her home is, we cannot send a monster. But there is more advantages than disadvantages in this plan. One, the monster will wreak havoc upon the city, damaging buildings and killing humans. Two, the Human Star Warrior is new to this game; she might become foolish and transform in front of everyone, thus creating conflict between herself and the city. Three; and this is the best part: Kirby of the Stars and Metanaito-kyou along with their other allies will not be able to help her! They're aliens on Earth, and right now, Earthlings are obsessed with finding life on other planets. How narrow minded." Luciana said with a smirk gracing her concealed visage.

"And primitive too. Humans haven't even discovered deep space travel, and hell, Meta Knight's ancestor discovered _that_ over 50,000 years ago!" 2-87y exclaimed.

"It doesn't make things better for us that Meta Knight is the descendant of Jasper Knight. Jasper was the most intelligent being of that time over 50,000 years ago, not to mention the very first Sage of Destonia; so that also meant that Meta Knight's family has been in close ties with the gods for many millennia. This might be disastrous for all of us. I wouldn't even know what to _think_ if Meta Knight has one of those _**blasted**_ Pendulum Amulets…"

"So there's a Sage training _**TWO**_ _GUARDIANS_?! We might get into serious trouble if we're not careful." Luciana raised a dismissive hand at the two. "One Guardian. Kirby of the Stars is the only Guardian among that lot. The Human Star Warrior is just another Star Warrior, no matter what the prophecies say. I will send over the monster and it better arrive in the girl's hometown. End transmission." And the image on the mirror faded away.

"Bah. Although they may help my Mistress's plans along, 2-87x and 2-87y are both foolish _morons_ if they believe we're going to give them the Master Crown and the rule of Popstar. After Mistress Necromantia's plans are fulfilled, then we shall see who rules the galaxy." Luciana said, laughing wickedly. She walked to a door to another room, where the sounds of growling could be heard. She opened the door, and the cacophonous growls grew louder, if such a thing were possible. A broad, sociopathic smile grew on her face.

"Hello, my lessers. It's time for you to hunt."

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"Sorry it isn't much. I'd make some more, but when Mom and Dad come home, Mom's probably going to cook something unless they haven't gotten dinner from a town over or something." Alexandria said, passing over a plate of turkey sandwiches to her guests. Kirby happily took three and gave one to Meta Knight. His eyes flashed pink in amusement. "Thank you, little one." He said as he took the sandwich from the young Puffal's paw. "I could've made something for y'all, y'know." Callie stated.

"It's alright. You guys are _our_ guests. If Mom and Dad approve of you being here and training me, you can come over as often as you want. Whatever works for you guys." Kirby "poyoed" in approval, Callie shrugged her shoulders and absentmindedly chewed her sandwich, and the knights nodded in approval.

"What do you guys think of my sister's sandwiches? Good right? Alexandria makes the best turkey sandwiches!" Elizabeth stated happily. Kirby babbled in agreement, though what was said was drowned out due to the fact the boy had stuffed both the sandwiches in his mouth at once.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Kirby, you'll choke." Callie stated with her arms crossed. Kirby swallowed both of the sandwiches easily, however. That was to be expected from the young Inhaler Puffal. Meta Knight chuckled in amusement at the young boy's antics. "Aren't you going to eat too, Meta Knight?" Alexandria asked. "I would eat… but your sister keeps staring at me. I suppose she expects me to take my mask off." He said, eyes narrowed at Elizabeth, who was staring with wide eyes. His own eyes, which were previously a calm yellow before, flickered to a pale red, and that made the girl back away from him. Satisfied that Elizabeth wasn't staring anymore, Meta Knight raised his mask up just enough to expose his mouth as he took a bite from the sandwich.

"So, is it to your liking?" Alexandria asked, twiddling her fingers. Meta Knight chuckled at her. "It's not going to be the end of the world, Alexandria," Meta stated as he took another bite of the sandwich. "But yes, you can say that it is to my liking." His eyes were a very bright pink, about as bright as Kirby's skin. Meta Knight was probably very amused. But that didn't last very long, as the Puffal felt his face getting stretched. Mouth, more like it. Elizabeth opened his mouth up and was holding it up with her hands, much to the embarrassment of Alexandria, and the discomfort of Meta Knight.

"Liz! Close his mouth, I don't think he likes it when you do that!" Alexandria scolded. "But his teeth are so white! And so sharp too," She poked one of his fangs. "I wonder how well he smiles? He's already cute without the mask. Do all Puffals grow teeth- oww!" Meta Knight bit her, causing a small amount of blood to dribble from the bite. "Why did he bite me?" She whined. "I do not like it when I am treated like someone's specimen." Meta Knight stated irritatedly. "But my finger is bleeding! I guess this is what I get for breaking rule number one: never stick your fingers in a vampire's mouth! You are a vampire, right?"

"The fangs are for show. I am only partially vampiric," Then he reached into his cape and pulled out a Band-Aid. "This should stop the bleeding." He handed her the adhesive strip.

"I wonder what I'm gonna do with my little sister… I don't suppose you understand how serious it is for them to be here, Liz." Alexandria said, resting her face in her hand. "I know it's serious! You told me the fate of Popstar could be at stake."

But as Meta Knight was about to say something, they heard a car approach. "That must be our parents." Alexandria said, stepping off her stool. Kirby, Meta Knight, Sword, Blade, and Callie followed suit, and the group walked to the living room. The door opened, and two humans stepped inside, a male and a female. The male was wearing a black suit and red tie. His hair was combed back out of his face and was graying at the sides, though most of it was still jet black. The female was wearing a blue sundress and white Mary Jane flats. Her brunette hair was combed into a high ponytail, not unlike Elizabeth's.

"Um, hi, Mom, hi, Dad. How go things?" Alexandria asked nervously. "Everything is fine, Alex. And I see Elizabeth has some new plushies." Alexandria and Elizabeth flinched when their mother picked up Callie, Sword, and Blade. "They look so life-like though. Even the knaves' armor is realistic."

"That is because we _are_ real, ma'am." Sword stated. The parents screamed at the same time, startled that the so-called "plush" talked to them just then. "H-how are you _**talking**_?! The Kirby world doesn't exist! Right…?" Mr. Jones exclaimed with a panicked tone to his voice. "Mr. and Mrs. Jones, I know this is a lot to take in. I know that you think this is a dream, but I assure you both, this is _**real**_ , and we are here with you now. Why we are here, however, is a matter of utmost importance." Meta Knight stated. But when he spoke, it seemed like the knight made the humans more unnerved.

"This… I don't get this… how did you arrive here? Why are you here?" Mr. Jones asked. "Please, just calm yourselves. We will explain everything. Just sit down." The two did what the Puffal asked.

"OK, now tell me: what the hell is going on here?! How in God's name are you here?!" Mr. Jones asked, frantically standing up after just sitting down. "Well, this all started three days ago. Your daughter, Alexandria, must have came across the Opalescent Mirror and the Gloves of Stellar Vitae. They changed her into a Star Warrior of Earth. It is said that there are only three relics like the Stellar Vitae on this Earth. But that's beside the point. When your daughter appeared on our planet, she didn't know what was going on, and I admit, I was very hasty when I first saw her because of the legends and everything. But when the Chimera attacked, she had a hand in defeating it. She saved Kirby's life that day." Remembering that moment where Alexandria unleashed a counterattack against the Chimera's Death Wish made the knight beam with silent pride.

But it appeared that her parents didn't feel the same. Mrs. Jones was silent, not to mention as still as a statue. Mr. Jones, however, was glaring daggers at Meta Knight. Apparently, he didn't believe _not a_ _thing_ the Puffal said.

"My daughter isn't part of some "grand destiny, save the world" sort of bullshit! She's an honor student at her school; one of the highest in her class! Alexandria isn't going to fight "demonbeasts" or whatever the hell they are on some planet that shouldn't even exist to begin with! My daughter is going to finish school, and she's going to college, and that is that, Meta Knight!" Yelled the livid parent. Meta Knight raised a gloved paw, about to say something to attempt to reason with the human, but the man started shouting again.

"I'm not about to let my daughter get killed being involved with this extraterrestrial bullshit on a cartoon world! Go back to wherever you fucking came from!" Then Mr. Jones left and walked upstairs. Mrs. Jones was still frozen in place, but she soon spoke again.

"Alexandria… you found it, didn't you?" She asked. "The mirror and the gloves? Yes, ma'am." Alexandria answered. Mrs. Jones sighed. "There's a story that goes with the gloves on your hands and the mirror in the house. If you care to listen, that is."

Alexandria nodded in agreement. But the others were confused. Especially Meta Knight. _A story behind the gloves and the mirror? Does Mrs. Jones_ _ **actually**_ _know the legend then? We shall see…_ He thought to himself. Mrs. Jones cleared her throat and started to tell the story.

" _Long long ago, in a time long forgotten by man, and a galaxy unknown only to a chosen few, the Ancients and the Guardians were convening in a meeting of the divinities. A new Distort, one they had never encountered before, had broken from the Tartarus Dimension and was quickly spreading their evils across the galaxy. He was one of the most powerful Distorts they had ever encountered; he was, perhaps, even more powerful than Zero, the King of the Dark Matter. This Distort was called Nightmare, and he lived up to his name, destroying the lives of countless beings from countless planets._

 _During this time, the first resistance before the Galaxy Soldier Army, the Children of the Stars, was battling Nightmare. However, they could not win. The Children of the Stars had such a small army compared to Nightmare that they were easily losing more soldiers than they could replenish. Few Children were left alive, left to be under the rule of Nightmare. However, these few who survived the first war lived a life of seclusion and ignorance. While Nightmare spread his evil across the galaxy at a rapid rate, another Distort broke from the Tartarus Dimension. This one preferred to stay concealed under a veil of mystery. Not much was known about her, and that remains until this day. This Bride of Nightmares was a female version of Nightmare himself, in a sense. She had her own monsters, and her powers weren't much different from Nightmare's own either._

 _But this Distort remained in the shadows. She remained unknown to all throughout the galaxy, and it wasn't til a Puffal; the first Sage of Destonia, Jasper Knight, discovered her. When the Distort was discovered, she immediately attacked Jasper, and their battle waged for several hours. Using the sword forged by Photron, Galaxia, he deflected one of her magic blasts at her. This proved helpful to the Sage, for the purifying fire that creates the electricity that forms Galaxia purified the Distort's attack. She retreated from their battle, using the reflective sheen of a pool of water. That was when Jasper had a thought._

 _When Galaxia's golden energy purified the Energy Blast from the Distort, it also absorbed a portion of that energy. It was just enough to help Jasper build the relics that will soon help the fates of many. The Sage of Destonia had myriad after myriad of rainbow opals, silver, and gold. Using the same cloth used to make Dimensional Capes, Jasper created the Gloves of Vitae. Using some of the gold and two rainbow opals, he created the Rings of Libertatem. And with two strings of rainbow opals, he created the Bracelets of Serenitatem. After creating these three relics, Jasper created the Galaxous Mirrors, which will then allow travel to other worlds. The silver, gold, and opals used in the mirrors were bathed in water from the Fountain of Dreams._

 _However, one night, days after creating these relics, the Bride of Nightmares returned to steal one of the mirrors. Jasper fought her again, but his effort proved fruitless this time, and the Distort escaped with the mirror._

 _Afraid that the Distort would come back for another one of the relics, Jasper entrusted the help of the Goddess, Serafina to hide the relics among stars and the planets, to hide them under the veils of time._

That is the story of the mirror and the gloves, Alexandria." Mrs. Jones stated. Alexandria stared at her mother in disbelief. Meta Knight's eyes were a deep emerald green. Callie, Sword, Blade, and even Kirby looked amazed. Nobody said anything for a few minutes. Then Meta Knight spoke again.

"What about how they got to Earth? Do you know that much, Mrs. Jones?" He asked. "No. I don't know because my mother rehearsed those lines I just said to you for several years to myself and my sister. She told me that we are supposed to hold on to the gloves, the rings, and the bracelets. Alexandria… I didn't want you to find the mirror and the gloves… neither did your father. I told him the same piece of the story I told you. I told your father about the power in those gloves… and he's had fear that you might get hurt because of the power in them. That's why he's lashing out so much… because of that fear." Alexandria rested a hand on her chin.

"Fear can drive man or otherwise to make hasty decisions. But, that is the way that goes. We can control what _we_ as _one_ feel, but to control what someone else feels is nearly impossible. We can only influence that person to feel what we want them to feel, but it is _their_ decision to feel calm or to panic. That is how that is. That is how it will always be." Meta Knight stated, wrapping his cape around himself. Alexandria suddenly stood up, raising her arms.

"I have to show him I can do this! Even if Dad doesn't agree, I have to try! I was nervous when I had to help Kirby and company out in the fight against the Chimera, but I didn't stand there like a rock. I _did_ something! If I can do _**something**_ to ensure that we're safe in the future, then that's what I want to do, Mom! Is that so wrong?" Mrs. Jones shook her head at her daughter's statement. "No, Alex, it isn't. But what are you going to do? Your father isn't going to back down on his resolve. You'd have to show him you can handle those powers."

Alexandria nodded in agreement. Mrs. Jones turned on the television, which had a newscast going on.

"Breaking news: a monster of unknown origin is attacking Downtown Vail! Residents describe the monster as being over ten feet tall, adorned with toxic spikes, and a stark white! The mayor has declared a state of emergency for _EVERYONE_ in the Vail area!" Stated the newscaster. "See, Mom?! This is my chance! I'm the _**only**_ one that can stop that thing! I have to go!" And when she said that, Alexandria started her transformation.

 _A rainbow light enveloped Alexandria. That light became a rainbow cape that soon wrapped around her body. Her eyes turned from blue to magenta, and her hair also turned magenta. Her clothes disappeared, and what replaced them was a pink jumpsuit with a yellow star on the front. Even her shoes, which were just ordinary trainers, changed into silver boots._

Alexandria ran out of the door after her transformation. Thanks to her powers, she was able to run to downtown in five minutes whereas it would take her to drive twenty minutes. She managed to get a better look at the monster. It was about twelve feet tall, a _very stark_ white, but its spikes were purple. Most of the spikes adorned its twin tails and front legs. Its face looked like that of a dog- a husky to be precise. It roared in her face, baring its long, curved fangs. Alexandria grimaced in disgust. She wasn't fighting the monster by herself though. Wounds were already on its legs and part of its body.

The Vail Police Department was already fighting the beast, firing at it with their pistols and assault rifles. But they weren't doing the best job in harming the demonbeast. It had already killed three officers, and appeared to have poisoned another two, thanks to the toxins in its spikes. Alexandria _had_ to help them. She fired an Energy Blast at the beast, causing it to reel back and roar in pain and anger. The policemen looked at who caused the blast.

"Kid, get out of here! Leave this thing to the professionals!" One policeman stated. "Then I guess you guys should leave then. This is unlike anything you've ever faced. One smack from any of those spikes on that thing's tail will poison you. That goes from touching any of the other spikes. Look around you. You guys are outclassed," She dodged an attack from the monster. "You're not gonna survive." Alexandria punctuated that statement with an energy filled punch to the monster's head.

"What makes you think that _you're_ gonna survive, huh?" Another policeman asked. Alexandria ducked under the beast's tail and fired seven Energy Blasts at the monster's back. "I know what I'm doing. You guys need to go!" She charged up energy in her foot and kicked the monster on its head. It snarled angrily and snapped its jaws, trying to bite Alexandria, but a tooth only brushed the bottom of her boot. She retaliated with another kick.

"Go, go! I have a plan, but right now, just _GO_!" She shouted at the policemen. As much as they hated to admit it, this costumed teenager appeared to know what she was doing, and so, they obeyed her. At this point, they'd do _anything_ to get away from that monster! They left the area, giving Alexandria space to execute her plan.

Meanwhile, back at the manor, everyone but Mr. Jones was watching the news. Apparently some cameraman was lucky enough to get a close view of the battle, and it showed Alexandria dodging and ducking the attacks of the monster. "Go Alex! You can beat that ugly thing!" Cheered Elizabeth. Meta Knight's eyes glowed pink in amusement at the little girl.

 _Let us hope so. Because she needs to prove that she can handle her fate._ Meta Knight thought to himself. They heard the stairs creaking, and Mr. Jones, who had taken off the jacket over his suit, leaving only his black shirt and red tie, came in.

"Why are you still here? And where is Alexandria?" He asked angrily. "She's downtown, Joseph. Look, she's on the news." Replied Mrs. Jones. Joseph looked at the TV screen. Horror and anger couldn't even _describe_ how the man was feeling right there. "You… let… her **GO OUT THERE**?! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, MADELINE?! SHE COULD GET KILLED!" He screamed.

"SHE CAN HANDLE IT, IF YOU WOULD JUST-"

"SHUT UP! I DON'T NEED TO HEAR ANY-"

" **BE QUIET!** " Screamed Callie and Meta Knight simultaneously. Everyone else in the room had to cover their ears, though in the knaves' case, they weren't so lucky. "Look at the damn screen! Especially _**you,**_ Mr. Jones! Look at your daughter!"

They saw that Alexandria was indeed faring well against the monster. She dodged the attacks utilized by its front paws and twin tails with ease, almost as if she was able to predict the attacks. Every attack used by the monster was usually countered by an Energy Blast or a kick of some sort. While this didn't come as a complete surprise to Madeline, Joseph, however, was completely awestruck with how well she was actually doing. That brought _some_ relief to the man's shoulders, but that didn't mean he got over his anger completely.

"She's doing just fine, Mr. Jones. Alexandria is doing better than what we could have imagined. That says a hell of a lot, considering she _just_ got her powers. I don't know much about this whole legend biz at all. But trust us; if she wasn't there, that monster might have made it here by now, and then, your asses would ALL be in trouble." Callie stated, crossing her arms at the two humans. Joseph looked at the teenaged Puffal, confused as to why she said that. He reached out a hand for one of them to grab.

"If Alex gets back OK, I'll… consider letting you train her." Joseph stated finally. Meta Knight grasp the man's hand with his gloved paw. "We are glad that you finally agree with us, sir. Now, let's just watch and see what happens."

Back at the scene of the battle, Alexandria was dodging every attack that the monster was throwing at her. If people were watching, they'd see that the beast was tiring itself out, but its attacks grew slower, but would pack more of a punch if they landed on her. Unfortunately, for the demon, they weren't, and Alexandria was retaliating every time an attack was even thrown. The monster had to distract the human at some point. From the corner of its eye, it saw a smaller human. A little girl, to be precise.

It stopped attacking Alexandria for a split second, then raised its tails up like two giant hammers. Alexandria was horrified at what it was about to do.

 _With all the spikes in that thing's tails, that little girl will get killed instantly! I have to save her!_

The tails swung down with high speed and the intent to kill. The little girl was frozen with fear, her green eyes as wide as saucers. Alexandria ran as fast as she could toward the girl and blocked the attack. A strange energy radiated from her gloves. It caused the monster to screech in pain. That energy seemed to be some sort of a barrier. Alexandria turned her head to glance at the little girl. Tears had stained her little green eyes.

"Go, go, kid; go! You'll be safer that way, just go!" Alexandria yelled. The girl nodded and ran off. Alex turned back toward the monster and let the barrier down. The opals in the gloves started glowing brightly.

 _Big mistake, monster. I don't give a damn if you attack me… but DON'T hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it._ She thought angrily. And her angered thoughts appeared to show, as her eyes started to glow, and her hands radiated a furious aura. The monster roared at her and swung its twin tails once again. Alexandria dodged these easier than her previous dodges. And like before, she countered with an attack, but this one was three times harder. It was a punch, but whereas the previous moves were weaker, intended to disorient it, but this new move was an intent to kill. Alexandria has had **enough**.

She started charging up a final attack, and it seemed the monster was charging up its Death Wish. The spikes retracted from the legs and body of the monster and they were transported to the twin tails, making them look like giant, purple, spiky pinecones. The tails stretched to double their original length, which was half the height of the monster itself! Alexandria had an intense aura radiating from the gloves, ready to destroy the monster. Their attacks struck at the same time, a torrent of poison striking against a burst of light. The poison was liquid, and it seemed to burn against the Light Burst; the attack Alexandria was using. The Death Wish was nothing compared to the Light Burst. It was a strange steam whenever Alexandria's final attack struck its mark on the monster's head. That caused the beast to explode, leaving nothing but a few of its spikes on the ground. Alexandria picked them up, right as several people, including a news crew, cheered for their hero.

"Breaking news everyone, a hero in a pink jumpsuit with magenta eyes and hair destroyed the monster! Excuse us, Miss, are you some sort of alien from the stars or an angel from the heavens? Please tell all the good people sitting at home! What is-"

"Please stop talking, sir. I understand that I saved hundreds of people, but I have to go. I… need to get back to my fortress." Alexandria said, trying to keep the superhero schtick. "Could you tell us your name at least?" The cameraman asked. "Well, you all can call me Stellar Vitae." She state. "Stellar Vitae? There you have it! Could you answer- oh. She's gone."

He was right. Alexandria was gone. She flew back to her house and transformed back into her normal form. She took a deep breath and sighed before walking in her house. Her family and the warriors were all together in the living room. Alexandria stared at everyone, particularly her father, with an awkward and shy smile.

"Dad, before you say anything, I had to do this. I had to kill it because only light kills these things. Everyone would have been killed, and I couldn't sit there-" Joseph raised his hand, interrupting his daughter's statement. "It's alright, Alex. I'm not mad anymore. I can see that you can handle yourself just fine. You came back safe, and that's what matters in my book. I can count on you coming back safe, and I hope that'll be the case with this new destiny you've uncovered for yourself."

"Wait, so, I'm able to train with them now?!" Alexandria asked excitedly. Joseph nodded in agreement. Her smile grew wide when he said that. "Thanks, Dad! I'm glad you agree!" She hugged her father when she said that.

"I am glad that this ended happily. But now, we have something serious that we need to end. Alexandria… what do you have in your hand?" Meta Knight asked. "Oh. Just some of the spikes from that other monster. Here." She opened her hand, revealing the three toxic spikes. Luckily, she had her glove on, and they didn't puncture her skin. Meta Knight took out that same jar that held the claws of the Chimera and dropped them in the container. "There. Now that's settled. I will come back tomorrow morning for our training, Miss Alexandria. Whatever happens from here on out, your life will _never_ be the same."

"I'm aware. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

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Back on Popstar, at the Northern Isles, a certain purple demon was taking notes and reading out of four different books at once. It was very overwhelming, but hey, someone had to do this. Another demon, one with peach skin and long black hair with a tuft of it covering her right eye came in. She levitated to a spot next to her husband and nudged his shoulder, eliciting a flinch from him. He turned to see her.

"Lament, do you need something?" Customer Service asked. "What I need is for you to take a break, dear. I didn't think it was possible for a person to get tired from taking notes and reading out of books. Haven't you eaten anything since you returned from the castle?"

"No. And I know I need to, but I've almost found the pages I need." He explained. Lament sighed and shook her head. "John, you need to take a break. Don't you need to eat? Do you want to eat?" Lament asked. "I'll just tide over with a sandwich. I think I found the right page. Listen to this:

" _Thousands of years ago, the first holders of the Galaxous Relics were discovered. Three sisters, all beholding the relics. The eldest sister held the Rings of Libertatem; a powerful relic that embodies the mind, and that mind's desire for freedom. The mind is beheld in the form of ice, as the knowledge of the past and the knowledge of the future is frozen in place within the orifices of the holder's brain._

 _The middle sister held the Bracelets of Serenitatem; an equally powerful relic that embodies the holder's desires for peace. That desire is embodied in the form of the four Earthen elements: Fire, Water, Earth, and Air._

 _The youngest sister held the Gloves of Stellar Vitae. This is the most powerful Galaxous relic. While all three sisters held a role in defeating the Bride of Nightmares, Necromantia, the youngest sister held the biggest role. Light embodies the power inside the gloves that brings forth a new beginning of life and the elimination of darkness. The purity of the youngest sister fueled that light. With the aid of her elder sisters, the youngest sister was said to dispel Necromantia. For a time, at least._

 _But now, with more oncoming darkness in the universe, Necromantia's power is growing. The descendant of the youngest sister will be the one to destroy Necromantia once and for all. But, first, in order to prevent her resurrection, the descendant must first eliminate Necromantia's Sages of Shadows."_

"Sages of Shadows? Wait… John, do you realize what this means?!" Lament asked, a tone of worry evident in her voice. Her husband nodded, a look of concern gracing his visage. "I'll tell King David about this. We may need to have a meeting. So we'll need to tell Dedede in the meantime. That'll give those Star Warriors some transport to the Northern Isles. I'll go talk to him now." John stood up, but Lament stopped him.

"You still need to eat. Your food is ready in the dining room, I'll feed Amaris while you eat." Lament stated while picking Amaris up from the floor. John rolled his eyes with a small good natured smirk on his face and walked to the dining room.

 _I suppose they all have some sort of challenge ahead. I wish that teenager luck. She's gonna need it._

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 **A/N: I've got a special role for CS in the future. I decided to make him good for the sake of this story. And for that, I had to give him a name. Besides, I always saw him as more neutral instead of evil. And because not much info is given about him, I'm working with a near blank canvas. Anyone that has questions, just PM me.**


	3. Chapter 3

Heroes Of Popstar: The Human Star Warrior

 **Disclaimer: I mention Gravity Falls in this next chapter. I do not own that or Kirby, just the OCs.**

 **A/N: Be prepared for a SUPER long read this chapter and next chapter. This was originally one whole chapter, but I split it into two parts so it's easier to read.**

Episode 3: Venturing Into An Icy Hell; Make Way For An Unlikely Hero Part 1

It was very early in the morning, around 7:45. Almost nobody was up at this hour, not even the early rising Meta Knight was awake. It was mostly silent in the castle, save for the sound of a television running in the throne room. King Dedede was awake, of all people, the usually late rising penguin king was up. He was watching, of all things, "Gravity Falls".

The penguin had his usual red robe on, but underneath it were some blue pajamas. They were just a plain white, but had a crest of another kingdom on them. That crest had a snowflake on the top left, a star on the top right, two swords crossed together in an X shape on the bottom left, and a dragon on the bottom right. The only reason he was up at this hour was because the show was on. Sure, he had seen _every_ episode before, but there were still some mysteries that had yet to be solved. At least in Dedede's eyes anyway.

He was in the middle of the "Carpet Diem" episode when he felt his phone vibrate in his robe. Curious, he took it out of the interior pocket and saw he had two messages from Customer Service. _Now this is weird. What the heck does he want from me at this time?_ The king thought to himself. He clicked on his messenger and read what was on the text message.

 _King Dedede, if you aren't awake at this time (which I have little doubt on), I'll make this as brief and simple as possible. I found something out about the so-called "Human Star Warrior", and I asked your father if we can have a meeting on this matter. If possible, get just the Star Warriors and maybe those knaves up this morning. If anyone else comes, like Tiff, Tuff, Victoria for example, make sure they stay out of the way. That's all._

"Well Hell's bells, looks like I have to turn my TV off." Dedede stated, turning off the television and hopping off the throne. He walked through the halls for a while and stopped at Meta Knight's room. The king hesitated for a moment but still went inside, not before knocking. He went inside, being careful to avoid stepping on anything. There was little light in that room, and it was very cold. Two beds, a normal one and a medium sized cot, were in the room. Callie was asleep in the cot, hair splayed around everywhere on the pillow, eyes hidden because of her blindfold. He walked past her and looked at Meta Knight.

The navy blue Puffal was asleep rather peacefully. His breathing was very quiet, and it seemed that Meta was having a good dream. King Dedede mentally berated himself for watching the male sleep. The thought was just plain creepy. He nudged the knight's right arm, but that didn't generate much of a response, other than a quiet snore. Dedede had little patience for this sort of thing, but that clashed with the fear he felt for the mysterious Puffal. Meta Knight was powerful; stronger and more experienced than Kirby, so this made him very dangerous when provoked. It was already bad enough that Dedede was in Meta's presence while his mask is off.

"Meta Knight." He stated, a little quieter than normal, but he didn't want to be rude to Callie. There was no response from Meta Knight. "Meta. Wake up." Dedede stated, a bit louder and firmer. A frustrated and tired groan was heard. "Dammit, Meta Knight, wake up already!" King Dedede yelled, yanking the plush pink blanket off of Meta Knight. That resulted in the knight's eyes opening, glowing a bright red in the darkness of the room. Dedede flinched when he saw the _very angry_ look on Meta Knight's face.

"Before I bludgeon you half to death, why the hell do you wake me up at this hour?" He asked darkly, but his tone didn't sound as serious due to how tired the knight was. "I got a message from CS saying that we need to go to the Northern Isles for a meeting with my parents. I think it regards your Human Star Warrior. Look, he wants you, Kirby, Callie, Skyla, Sword, and Blade to come. I'm gonna come with y'all, and I'm gonna bring Escargoon along. Just get that kid up, please."

"Sire, her name is Alexandria. You could have asked. But… yeah. I'll go. Can I get some more sleep though? Another hour would be good." Meta Knight stated with a yawn. "Uh, sure, I guess." Dedede stated uneasily, handing Meta's blanket back. The penguin king walked out of the room, set a timer on his phone for one hour, and started watching Gravity Falls again.

 _Weird. He gets mad when his sleep is interrupted. I guess even Meta Knight could have a short fuse depending on how much rest he gets._ Dedede thought to himself. He turned the TV back on, knowing that the hour will pass by in just a few blinks of an eye.

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Up at the Northern Isles, it was a basic morning routine as usual for John and Lament. However, they knew that the meeting that would commence later in the day was no laughing matter; the issue regarding Necromantia's Sages was too serious to overlook. The two demons were already dressed for the day; John wearing a navy blue trenchcoat over his suit whereas Lament had a furry coat given to her by the Queen. The only things they had to worry about at this point were the meeting and if they can find a solution to the demon problem quickly.

"Alright, I packed away the books, and I have my notes too. Are we ready to leave, Lament?" John asked, throwing a backpack that held everything over his left shoulder. "No dear. We don't have anyone to keep an eye on Amaris. We might as well take her along with us and let Lyla watch her. It's the best we can do right now." Lament replied. She picked up a bag that held all the things they needed for their child. After that, she strapped Amaris in a baby carrying harness. The infant was wearing a little blue dress underneath a small jacket. The hood had little kitten ears adorned in the stitching.

"Let's go. I have her strapped in, and we appear to have everything we need. Let's make this quick." Lament stated. The tone of her voice suggested that they needed to take care of business. That wasn't unfamiliar to John, as of late, since they've been working at the castle. It was just another part of starting life anew in the demon's eyes.

They walked outside, carrying their bearings in the icy cold of Windfall. The snow, although usually very deep, luckily just brushed the bottoms of the demons' stomachs as they walked to a snowmobile with a sled tied to the back of it. It was next to a car; which could have been useful in keeping warm, but it would get stuck in the snow, so they didn't bother riding it. They were all able to ride on the snowmobile, since they were all small enough to ride together. Lament set the diaper bag onto the sled and tied it down with a bungee cord already tied on it.

"Alright. Let's go now. I have the bag tied. We don't need to freeze out here, especially Amaris." Lament remarked as she climbed behind her husband and held Amaris closer to herself. The child cooed happily, liking the contact. "Alright. Hold on!" With that statement, he turned the key inside the ignition of the vehicle, and off they went to Windfall Castle.

The ride didn't take too long, luckily. The castle wasn't too far from their house. The three stopped at the gate, guarded by two armored penguins. One was taller and stockier than the other, and both held a battle ax in their arms. The one on the right spoke first, with a thick Scottish accented voice.

"State your names and business." He stated firmly and officially. John rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses. This got so damn old sometimes. "It's just me, Malachi. John Starr and Lament Starr. We brought our daughter along as well, but that's beside the point. We're just here for the meeting that _I_ requested we have. Frankly, I don't want to freeze out here, and I _definitely_ don't want my wife or daughter to freeze either; we're not penguins."

The guard on the right- Malachi- merely laughed at the demon's statement. "Well, you sure don't have the physique to stay out in subzero temperatures for hours at a time. You're as thin as a bean pole. You and Miss Lament need to start doing some battle training and maybe even eat a little more. I'm not too worried about Amaris though. She was born into the ice and snow, as are all natives of the Northern Isles. Some of the strongest warriors are born here, good sir. I'm honored just to work at this castle with His Majesty and Her Excellency." Malachi bowed at the last part. John was pretty amused at the guard, but was slowly losing his patience. Lament, however, _already_ lost hers.

"Just authorize to open the gate already. Our meeting is very important, and like John said earlier: I don't want to freeze out here," She held Amaris closer to her body. "And I do not want Amaris to freeze either." Lament was usually a soft spoken and patient woman. Hearing the dark, somewhat temperamental tone from her voice that reminded them so much of their Captain of the Guard unnerved them, so the guards let the three through the gates. They walked to the front door of the castle, and two more guards stood at both sides of it. However, they didn't pay any of the demons any mind. The guard on the left knocked on the door with his spear, and the door opened soon after that.

They were greeted by a much taller than normal adult humanoid woman. Her skin was about as pale as Lament's, but most of it was hidden away under a black robe. Her hands were crossed behind her back in a serious expression. A katana, sheathed in a blue scabbard with the Crest of the Northern Isles emblazoned on it rest at her side. The woman's eyes were a bright and very deep sapphire blue. They were even icier than Kirby's eyes. A pair of glasses rested over her eyes, and her graying raven black hair was tied up in a bun with chopsticks making an X, supporting the hairstyle. Despite the graying of her hair, she had a face that would make one think she was in her late thirties, early forties, though the lines near her eyes also show her age in a way.

"Come in. You two must be cold. King David and Queen Elize are just ahead here, Mr. and Mrs. Starr." She ushered to them, taking one of her hands and gesturing to another door, which probably led to the throne room. "Thanks for letting us in, Fumi. I think that the sooner we get started, the sooner this whole thing can be resolved."

"Well, we won't know for sure. We'll need the prince and the Star Warriors over here for the meeting to start. Have you sent Dedede a message?" Fumi asked. "I did before we left this morning, but he never answered back, so I assume he either did what I asked, or he's still asleep. We'll never really know for sure with him; he's unpredictable." The faintest of smiles appeared on Fumi's face. "Ah, yes. I know. He was even more unpredictable as a child. Dedede never was a quiet boy." A small chuckle escaped her.

"I figured. But wasn't his hyperactivity mostly due to the fact that he just wasn't able to play outside the walls of the castle, since Khione was always finding a way to attack back then?"

"Yes. And when you came, Mr. Starr, your appearance was a godsend. I didn't think it was as simple as firing a mere revolver," Then Fumi turned away from the demon. "We're here now, Your Majesty!" She yelled. A blue penguin turned toward her. He wore a blue robe and a golden crown, a navy blue shirt emblazoned with the Crest of the Northern Isles, and behind his back was a large steel war hammer, maybe double the size of Dedede's hammer. The penguin looked exactly like the King of Dreamland, though his sapphire eyes shone with a glow of intelligence and experience, as well as added compassion.

"Ah, I see you. Mr. John, and Lady Lament. You said that we had something to discuss yesterday, sir, huh?" John and Lament nodded in agreement. "Could I entrust Amaris to Lyla, King David? That won't be too much of a problem, right?" Lament asked, taking Amaris out of the carrying harness. "Not at all, madam! Lyla is currently with her mother at the moment, however, but they'll be in here soon. Ah, here they come now!"

Two more penguins came into the room. One was tall and thinly built, and wore a blue robe over her cerulean dress. She wore a golden tiara, in which several blue feathers protruded out from underneath it. She also had gloves over her flippers which were as white as the snow outside, they were so pristine and kept! The other penguin was smaller as well as thinner. She wore not a crown or tiara, but a small blue beanie cap similar to King Dedede's. She wore a sky blue dress that was a paler shade than her skin. An odd thing about the young penguin girl was that she had a small sword at her side.

"Lyla, could you please watch Amaris until the end of our meeting today?" Lament asked. "Yay! That sounds great, Miss Lament!" Lyla said eagerly. "Ah ah, Princess. Relinquish your sword before we hand you Miss Amaris." Fumi stated, bending to Lyla's height and extending her hand out. Lyla handed Fumi the belt that held her sword. After that, Lament handed over Amaris to Lyla. She also handed over the bag of supplies to the preteen penguin. "Be careful with her. I understand that you will, Princess, but I still feel it's necessary to remind you." Lyla nodded in understanding. "I understand completely, Miss Lament. Hopefully big brother will get here soon."

"Well until then, you can play with Amaris." Lament stated, smiling warmly at the princess. Lyla smiled back and carried Amaris to a nearby column where she set the infant down and started playing what looked like to be peek-a-boo. Lament smiled at the sight and walked back toward her husband.

"What time do you think he'll show up, John?" She asked. "At this rate, if he did what I asked, five minutes before noon. It took us four hours to get here from the harbor at Sakura City, and Cappytown is about fifty miles from there." A sigh escaped the demon. "Now I feel stupid for skipping breakfast." Lament giggled at that. "It's fine. Maybe you can ask King David if you can go into the dining hall. I'm sure that the cooks are still making breakfast." Her husband laughed.

"They'll probably fill my plate til it's above my head and make me eat until the buttons of my coat pop off! I probably won't be able to stomach any more food until nightfall! Honestly, I don't think having those penguins cram my face full of eggs, toast, bacon, pancakes, and French toast until Dedede arrives would be a good idea. And believe you me, Lament, we've eaten at the castle before, and those crazy chefs _will_ do that!" Lament laughed at his statement, remembering the first time they had food at the castle. The servers piled food onto John's plate until he couldn't see Lament sitting across from him. They even gave him samples of every platter!

"Maybe. But I don't want to hear you complain about how hungry you are! Noon will be in five hours, and you'll be able to live through breakfast here. Just ask them to take it easy!" The demon's belly growled, and Lament giggled at that. That basically made him lose the argument, and having no argument anymore, John reluctantly went to King David.

 _These next five hours are definitely going to be… interesting, to say the least._ Lament thought to herself. A small smile grew on her face at the thought.

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Back in Dreamland, King Dedede had his own little meeting held to order in his throne room. Alexandria, Callie, Kirby, Meta Knight, Skyla, Sword, and Blade were all together. Escargoon stood alongside Dedede, who had his arms behind his back.

"OK, I asked all of y'all here because I got a message from Customer Service saying that we need to go to Windfall Castle. We better leave now, but y'all will have to get the thickest coat you got in your closets before we go. There's a blizzard at Windfall right now, and we definitely don't need anyone to freeze."

"Well it's convenient that we are able to carry supplies through our capes, isn't it then, Sire?" Skyla asked. She pulled out some coats for Sword and Blade, and even some small little fur parkas for Callie, Victoria, Kirby, Meta Knight, and herself. "What about yourself and Escargoon? Do you have anything that will keep you two from getting cold?" She asked. "I do, of course; I grew up in that winter wonderland! What about you, Escargoon?"

"Unfortunately, all I have are a pair of gloves and a scarf. But I know that highs this time of year will crest at sixty degrees. If there's a blizzard in Windfall right now, then it's probably below thirty right now." King Dedede facepalmed whenever Escargoon said that. "We didn't need a full blown analysis of my homeland's environment! _I_ could have told you that crap! Look, I'll let ya borrow a couple of my coats. I know they're too big on ya, but right now, the size is the _least_ of our worries. Dad might get a tailor for some coats anyway. I'll be right back."

But as Dedede was fixing to leave, Tiff, Tuff, and Victoria blocked his path. "What's going on in here, Dedede?" Tiff asked. "We're having a meeting, and we'll be heading to the Northern Isles in a few minutes. Oh, NOVA, don't ask me y'all wanna go!" King Dedede whined. "Well, can we? I mean, it's gonna be so boring over here without Kirby!" Tuff stated. "And, we might get to see Johnny and Lament's little girl! Amaris is so adorable!" Victoria added.

"Look kids, what we're going up there for ain't no visit; this is serious! I don't know why CS wants us up there, but it can't be for no happy peppy chat, thanks to what's happened lately. If y'all are coming with us, _stay out of our way_. I ain't even joking this time. Stay out of our way." And Dedede left the throne room. "What's that about, Callie?" Victoria asked.

"He's right, you know. If something major is going on, then you guys are gonna have to keep out of our way. We need to nip this crap in the bud before millions of lives are at stake. You had a close call with yesterday, Alex." Callie said, looking at Alexandria. "What do you mean?" Asked the human. "Well, there was that monster attack at downtown in your hometown."

"There was a demonbeast attack on Earth?!" Tiff, Tuff, and Victoria asked in unison. "Yeah. It just came out of nowhere. I've never seen anything like that in my life attack my home like that. Thank God the death toll was small. I feel bad that people died, but I'm glad that it wasn't _nearly_ as bad as it _could've_ been." Alexandria shuddered at the thought, wrapping her arms around her body. "I'm glad I killed it before it could do anymore damage." She stated. "I am just relieved that you were able to destroy that thing on your own. That speaks volumes considering that you haven't started your training yet." Meta Knight said.

"What she used in that battle, Meta, was raw power and physical dexterity. That isn't going to cut it if these attacks keep happening. We have to train her as soon as we can. The raw power in those gloves could turn out to be too much to handle for Alexandria if she isn't careful." Meta Knight was about to respond, but Callie cut him off. "I hate to say it, Meta Knight, but Skyla's right. She can't control that intense power without _some_ form of training. Alex got lucky this time." Alexandria narrowed her eyes at Callie and Skyla.

" _Thanks for the vote of_ _ **confidence**_ _._ " She muttered in distaste. "I think I did fine for my first solo battle, _thank you_. What would I need to work on?" She asked.

"For one, you have to learn all your powers. It's better to fight monsters, especially like that toxic demonbeast, from long distance. You were taking a risk fighting it with those punches and kicks. Second, you have to control how much power you expel. You haven't gotten to a state where your body will just collapse to the ground just yet, since you have gotten very lucky, but if you get too overconfident, this _will_ happen. There should be a book with all of the Stellar Vitae's known abilities. That library at the Windfall Castle is the largest archive of fables and legends on Popstar. If there is _anything_ about the powers of the Human Star Warrior, it will be there." Meta Knight stated.

"I'll take your word for it then." Alexandria said, smiling wryly at the Puffal. At that point, King Dedede returned to the throne room, holding a big coat in his left arm and two small jackets on his right arm. One of the jackets was pink and green while the other was a sandy orange. Dedede threw the jackets to Tiff and Tuff. "Here. Y'all are definitely gonna need these. I asked your parents if I could get them, since y'all aren't gonna take no for an answer for going. Better keep 'em close to ya; I wouldn't want to freeze there." Then the king turned toward Escargoon and threw the coat in his left hand at him. It was smaller than the red coat Dedede had on, and it had the Crest of the Northern Isles on it.

"That's the smallest coat I had in the closet. It's still gonna be a bit big on ya, but hey, better than freezing your shell off," Then Dedede turned toward the doors and started walking out. But when he didn't see anyone following, he facepalmed and said, "What are y'all waitin' for, you morons, follow me!" And everyone started on to Cappytown.

The group walked through the village, spying naught but a few Cappies doing morning routines. A few would wave and greet the group, but others stared at the strange girl walking with them. They were almost out of the village, when, out of complete accident, King Dedede bumped into Chief Bookem. The Cappy officer fell down in the dirt, but was able to pick himself up off the ground. "Sorry about that, Chief. We're in a bit of a hurry." Dedede explained, rubbing the back of his head in a sheepish manner. "I can see that. So where are you all headed in such a rush?"

"The Northern Isles. An… "old friend" called us up there for some urgent business. Say, could ya do me a big favor?" King Dedede asked. Chief Bookem nodded in compliance, though the look in his coal black eyes showed some slight hesitance. "If a rogue demonbeast attacks, let me know immediately so that Kirby and Meta Knight take care of it before any lives are lost. We don't need no casualties! Ya understand?"

"Of course, Sire. I'll even do what I can to hold the monster off in the meantime until they get here!" Meta Knight raised a hand in front of the Cappy and shook his head in disagreement. "No no. Just notifying us is good enough, thank you. Now, if you'll excuse us, we need to depart now."

The Cappy officer tipped his hat to the group and let them continue on their way. Soon enough, they were at the coastline of the Orange Ocean; part of the Southern Seas, which wrapped around all of Dreamland and the surrounding islands and countries near it. A very large yacht was floating next to a medium sized dock. A ramp led to the inside of the boat.

"Come on. This is how we're gonna get there. Hope none of y'all get seasick." Dedede ushered the group inside the boat. When they went in, they were awestruck by what they saw. The inside was very luxurious, having velvety carpeted floors, chandeliers in many of the rooms, pictures of the nicest areas in Dreamland and beyond, a beautiful dining hall and kitchen meticulously cleaned from top to bottom, bedrooms that looked like they have never been stayed in a day since they've been built, and finally, the meticulously organized and maintained navigational room.

"Your Majesty, when in NOVA's name did you get this boat? Blade and I have worked at the castle with Lord Meta Knight for years, and we've never even _seen_ THIS boat!" Sword exclaimed, gesturing at the surroundings to illustrate his point. "I've had this since I was eighteen, Sword. I traded a fella the old dinghy I came to Dreamland in for this thing. Heh, I got lucky that day. A brand new yacht for a forty year old dinghy. Guess the man didn't care for his boat. Anyway, here's the navigational system, I'm sure this is archaic for you, Skyla."

The female Puffal walked toward the onboard navigational system. "I'll be the judge of that." She examined the system, carefully looking over the features and how it works. Skyla was a master with technology, even more of a master of tech than a master of sword fighting.

"Hmm… this isn't too archaic. I can input the coordinates of Windfall Harbor easily, but this is a 2009 version of the MR-XK18 Navigational Computer. This is actually a pretty advanced computer, but a 2017 version wouldn't be "archaic". See, this keyboard over here allows you to input the latitude and longitude of the location of your choosing. We are planning to go to Windfall Harbor, so, the best thing to do is put the coordinates of Windfall, which is near the Prime Meridian of Popstar. The middle of the Isles is the exact location of Popstar's Prime Meridian. Windfall is over 100 miles of that Meridian, so latitude is 68°N, longitude is 49 degrees to the east. There we go. I have the coordinates set. Computers like these will just steer the ship themselves, so unless we encounter some issues, it'll literally be smooth sailing. I'll stay up here to keep an eye on it though, computers _will_ crash if one isn't careful handling it." After inputting the coordinates, Skyla turned the key to the ship and raised the anchor. It started to move.

Everyone but Skyla left at that point. The female Puffal removed her flame emblazoned mask and set it on the armrest of the leather chair she rest in. She watched the waves splash the glass of the windows as the ship moved along. A small smile appeared on her face.

"Everyone can enjoy themselves as long as they please. Hm. I for one wish that this issue is as serious as it sounds. I've been wanting a challenge lately. At least I don't have to be alone to face it. Meta is by my side, and so's young Kirby. Everything is fine," A sigh escaped the woman's lips. "For now. Meta isn't the only one sensing danger on the horizon. But whatever in NOVA's name it is, we'll be ready. No matter what happens." She leaned back in the chair and watched as the waves rolled by, and nothing but clear blue ocean flowed past the moving ship. Her eyes closed, and Skyla drifted away to a sweet, peaceful slumber.

In another room of the ship; the dining room, most everyone was waiting for breakfast to be served. King Dedede sat at the far end of a long table, and beside him on the left was Escargoon. Seated across from the snail was where Meta Knight was, and alongside him on his left, followed accordingly, were Kirby, Alexandria, Sword, and Blade. Tiff, Tuff, and Victoria sat across from the first three on Meta's side.

"Come on, when is she coming out of there?! I'm hungry!" Tuff whined, banging his fists on the table, much to Tiff's annoyance and embarrassment. "Callie will be out of the kitchen in a moment, Tuff. We haven't even been here that long!" Tiff said, irritated at her brother's lack of patience. The kids heard a small chuckle from Meta Knight. "You two you need keep from squabbling. That isn't going to help us out when we arrive at the Isles. It's for the better, Tuff, that you just stay quiet. We are already risking a great deal just bringing you two along."

King Dedede nodded in agreement with Meta Knight. "Yep. The Isles are very dangerous. Attacks are more common with just the wild animals than in Dreamland with the demonbeast attacks. It's a whole mess. It's why people over there grow up by a warrior's code. Even so, we still had monster attacks. People who acted like I used to bought those damn monsters. That's how I think Khione got to the Isles."

"You keep talking about Khione. Who is Khione?" Tiff asked. "Khione was another monster created by NME. She was one of the few monsters that survived the war, based on what Meta Knight told me when I asked him about her not too long ago." Meta Knight nodded in affirmation. "Correct. She was one of the few sentient monsters who fought in the war that survived the carnage. But oh, how I wish that I was the one that killed her. That revenge would have been a long, bloody hell for that conniving little bitch!" That outburst from Meta Knight startled the rest of the group around him.

"Speaking of, how have you held this grudge for so long? Isn't it a little… petty now, since Khione is dead?" Escargoon asked. "Let me ask _you_ something, Escargoon. Would you hold a grudge against someone if they killed your mother in cold blood?" The snail nodded in agreement at that. "Khione took my Mira from me! She took my wife away from me! I've held that grudge for 500 years, and that is not going to unwaver just because the bitch is dead. I _wish_ that I was the one that fired that bullet. Not John, _I_ SHOULD HAVE KILLED THE DEMONESS THAT TOOK MY BELOVED MIRA FROM ME!"

Nobody said anything after that. There was an awkward silence that you couldn't cut with a knife. "Everything's ready!" They heard Callie say. Everyone turned to see her wheeling in a serving table decorated with cloches. Some of those domes were pretty tall, others were smaller. She removed the cloches from the plates, revealing that there were pancakes, already buttered, and dripping with the syrup that made the sweet smelling breakfast cakes even sweeter smelling.

"The taller stacks go to Dedede, Kirby, and Meta Knight, the rest belong to us. Come and get it." Everyone grabbed a plate of pancakes. "OK, I can understand Kirby and King Dedede having a taller stack of pancakes, but why Meta Knight, Callie?" Tiff asked. "He forgot to eat last night, he was reading out of the journal." Callie answered nonchalantly, taking her place on the table. Meta Knight chuckled sheepishly. "Yes, I forgot to stop reading. When I finished, it was 11:07 at night and I couldn't get anything to eat." Victoria giggled at that. "Mety, aren't you going to quit working so hard and relax a little? I mean, you've loosened up since you've been on Earth. Why not go back to the way you were?"

"I was going through a mental relapse, Victoria. I acted younger than my normal self because of the relapse." Meta Knight raised his mask up to expose his mouth and shoveled the pancakes in it. The male Puffal looked like a squirrel with nuts in his cheeks. Tiff and Callie laughed at the silly sight. Everyone followed suit, eating the pancakes. After that was finished, the group separated, to do their own thing. Tiff remained behind, thinking about something. Meta Knight came to her.

"You appear troubled." He stated, sitting next to her. "I'm just thinking." She replied. "About what?" Tiff sighed, brushing a few locks of her golden blonde hair out of her face. "Well, we're going to the Northern Isles because of what Customer Service told King Dedede, right?" Meta Knight nodded. "What if this is just another scam? Knowing Customer Service, he'll put up any sort of facade to keep the trust of anyone he needs to fool to get what he wants. I don't understand why Dedede's father would just trust him just because he killed a demoness." Tiff looked very confused at that point, and Meta Knight understood why.

"Tiff, do you know the old saying, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"?" Tiff nodded in agreement. "Well, this is the case with John. He killed Khione, and he seems to be sincere about his findings this time. Besides, I understand why Dedede's father trusts him so much. It is for that reason, destroying that demoness, why he has so much trust invested into him. Besides, he has a daughter now. I would believe that he would want his child to grow up with a father. Wouldn't you say?" Tiff shrugged at the knight, unable to give a definite answer. "I guess. But it's still weird considering all he's done. You understand me on that level, don't you, Meta Knight?"

"I do. But Tiff; coming from me, I would say that I am impressed in his attempt to reform himself. Take it easy on him. He has a young daughter, and he values her life and wellbeing just as much he loves his wife. I understand why he wants to start a new life. You can't have a job to feed your child if you act like the Son of Nightmare. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Meta Knight asked. "Yes, sir. But…"

"Tiff. Just relax, and leave the worrying to the grown ups. You'll age too fast for your own good if you keep thinking that way. You're only eleven years old. You need to stop worrying so much. Nightmare is gone, what's left of his empire are just two demons; one of which is powerless, the other not wishing to fight. I believe that they won't cause any trouble. Besides, King David is a good man. If he allows those two to come and go as they please, I'm sure they don't give them any trouble."

Tiff smiled wryly. She was still a bit worried, but hearing Meta Knight's words reassured her somewhat. Of course she shouldn't worry so much. Hell, if Meta Knight wasn't worried, why should she be? She saw the knight walk off, leaving Tiff by herself in the dining hall with nobody but her own thoughts to keep her company.

 _Maybe I shouldn't worry so much. I should just stop overthinking things. If Customer Service has stayed out of the dungeon up there in the Isles that long, then surely he hasn't done anything wrong. Right? Right…? Hm. I'll have my eyes on you. You may have everyone playing along with your_ _ **facade**_ _, but you're still a demon! You're_ _ **STILL**_ _loyal to Nightmare! I know it!_

With the bitter thought in her mind, Tiff left the dining hall to go join the others in whatever they were doing.

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Five hours had passed, and everyone was joined up with Skyla in the navigational system. Tiff and Tuff had their jackets on, ready to brave the elements. Meta Knight had his cape wrapped around him in his normal style, Callie copying that look. Alexandria's arms were crossed as she watched the yacht drift ever so closer to the icy harbor of Windfall. Kirby was hidden under Meta's cape, giggling cutely since he thought that the cape was warm. Sword and Blade stood next to their lord, staying silent, watching the wind and snowfall from the blizzard. Victoria was grinning happily, excited to set foot in the snow and see Amaris. King Dedede stood on the right side of Skyla's chair while Escargoon stood at her left, wearing the coat given to him before setting foot in the ice.

"We're almost there." Skyla said. "Mhmm. Y'all better stay aware that the Isles ain't _nothing_ like Dreamland. Especially you kids," Dedede stated, pointing at Tiff and Tuff. "My blood home is like an icy hell. I wouldn't stay out in there too long. By the looks of things, it looks like there's a blizzard going on. I'm sure there's a car waiting for us though; the harbor is eight miles from the castle, and being in a blizzard for a long time could be deadly."

The kids nodded in affirmation, aware of the danger that they were getting into. "Land ho! We're here!" Skyla yelled. She stopped the ship from crashing into a chunk of the icy land. She anchored the yacht after putting it to a complete stop, then slipped into her parka. Callie, Victoria, Meta Knight, and Kirby copied her action. Sword and Blade put their coats on, but they were over their armor, so that might not even work good.

"Everyone suited up?" Dedede asked. Everyone nodded in compliance. "Good," He opened the hatch for the ship and lowered the ramp onto the dock with just a few presses of a couple buttons. "Let's go. I'm not sure how much longer my parents are willing to wait on us." And upon saying that, they exited the yacht and walked into the harbor. Two guards from the Windfall Castle were there, ready to follow orders. A car was behind them, so the group assumed that they were the chauffeurs.

"Are these your guests to bring along, Prince?" The guard on the left asked. "Mhmm. Is there enough room for all fourteen of us?" Dedede asked. "There's enough. The snail fellow may have to sit in the very back though. It'll be a tight squeeze, we didn't really account for this many to be here." The guard on the right explained. King Dedede narrowed his eyes at Tiff, Tuff, and Victoria. "Believe me, you two. _Neither did we._ " Tiff shifted uncomfortably in the penguin's gaze. Tuff and Victoria didn't really react. "Wh-why don't we just get in. It'll be better if we get there before the storm gets worse anyway!" Tiff stated nervously. They all went to the car and got inside. It was a very tight squeeze, and two of the Puffals had to sit on the floor, so in the end, there was barely enough room for everyone. The drive to Windfall Castle didn't last a very long time, luckily, and everyone was able to get out.

At the gates to the castle, the group was greeted by two more guards. "These are the guests accompanying our Prince, I assume." Asked the guard on the right of the gate. "Indeed. May we pass?" The guards nodded in response and let the group by. King Dedede led the way, being the one to open the door to the castle itself. Fumi stood at the doorway.

"Hello again, Prince Dedede. Your parents are waiting in the throne room." Fumi said. "Thanks. I'm guessing CS and Lament are there too?" Dedede asked. "You mean John and Lament? Well, in that case, they're in the throne room waiting as well. Follow me." The group did just that. Tiff stared at the taller woman as she walked. The girl only met Fumi once, and she was always intrigued about just how a normal humanoid could surpass the limits of her own race. It wasn't entirely obvious that the woman was 64, due to the fact that her face suggested she should be in her late thirties, early forties. Her graying raven black hair spoke another story though.

Tiff was interrupted from her thoughts when she heard Fumi's sharp voice speak. "He's here, your majesty. We have the Human Star Warrior as well as the Guardian in our presence. Isn't that right, Prince?" Fumi asked, focusing her icy gaze at King Dedede. The penguin nodded quickly. "With some guests too. Y'all remember my advisor, and there's these kids…" Dedede gestured toward Tiff, Tuff, and Victoria. "The armored guys are Meta Knight's knaves. I think y'all remember them."

"Sword and Blade Knight, yes, we remember them, son. I can understand you bringing them and Escargoon. But why those kids?" King David asked as he walked toward the group. "We wanted to see Amaris, sir!" Tuff blurted out. Everyone else glared at him. The boy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Ah, let them go see her. Lyla's keeping watch over her at the moment. She's up there, on the second floor," David pointed up at the floor above them. "Just go up those stairs." Tuff nodded as thanks and quickly ran upstairs to see the infant demon. Tiff sighed and followed her brother.

"I'm able to stay right? I mean, I'm supposed to be Hero of Destonia. I should get to help." King Dedede was about to say something when King David spoke instead. "Unless you can help with our situation, lass, we have no real use for you." Victoria didn't speak for a second, but sighed, then walked upstairs, just as John and Lament were walking downstairs with Queen Elize. Victoria bumped into the purple skinned demon, knocking both herself and the demon down with her.

"Sorry, Johnny! I didn't mean to knock you down!" She said, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "Don't call me Johnny, Victoria." Was all he told her before Lament stood him up and levitated herself and her husband to the first floor. "Ah, well if it isn't the man of the hour. My son's here now, so we should get ready to see what you've found in those books. Why don't we go into the-"

King David was cut off by a young guard bursting through the doors of the castle. "Your majesty! Your majesty!" He yelled. "What is it, lad!? We're about to commence the meeting!" David yelled back. The guard froze under his king's glare. "Forgive me for interrupting, Sire, but-"

"Spit it out, dammit! This is a matter of bloody life and death!" Shouted the livid old king. "POLAR LION!" Screamed the guard. At that moment, a _gigantic_ white lion burst through the doors of the castle. Alexandria and the Dreamlanders gasped. It was the biggest lion they have ever laid their eyes on. It had to have been two feet bigger than the Chimera; which was ten feet tall. The beast's eyes were a sharp sapphire blue. Besides the gigantic size, the snow white fur, and the sharp sapphire eyes, it looked like a normal male lion.

The polar lion roared loudly, slashing the guards with its large front paws. It snarled and roared at the penguins. Guards started attacking with everything they had while the Dreamlanders watched. Meta Knight was about to go, but Fumi blocked his way.

"I have to help them, Fumi! They're getting hurt!" He stated firmly. "Keep the children safe. In fact, you all should go for cover. I can't have this damn beast kill off my disciples." Fumi drew her katana. "Go. Now." Meta Knight stood at her side. "I can help, I'm a Star Warrior; you are aware of that, yes?" He asked. "Yes, I know, but go upstairs _**NOW!**_ " She shouted. Meta Knight couldn't argue. This icy land wasn't his territory. It was hers. And he had to let her do her job; even if he didn't agree with being stuck on the sidelines.

Lament grabbed Meta Knight and her husband by the clothes on their backs and levitated them up to the second floor. King Dedede, Sword, Blade, and Escargoon ran upstairs while Callie and Alexandria merely flew. Fumi took her glasses off and handed them to King David.

"I'm going to fight too, Fumi. If anything, I should help." Fumi's icy sapphire eyes gazed directly into David's eyes. "For now, go into your chambers, my king. Hand my glasses to Elize. I'm sure they'll be safe with her. Go. I'll hold the bastard off as long as I can." King David nodded in compliance with his advisor's request and hurried up the stairs to the second floor. He passed by the group of Dreamlanders and could hear the dialogue of everyone.

"She's crazy! That thing is more than double her size! If it swipes at her with its paws, it'll hurt her badly! Isn't she 64?!" Escargoon asked. "Just watch. Trust me. Fumi knows what she's doing." King Dedede said, eyes never leaving the raven haired humanoid. "But King Dedede," Tiff said, holding onto the sleeve of the penguin's coat. "Fumi is too old to do something like this! Acts such as that, I can understand Meta Knight doing; he's a Puffal. But Fumi? She's a humanoid! She's too old to do something this dangerous!"

King Dedede chuckled softly. A small smile grew on his face. "Prepare to be amazed then. Trust me, y'all don't know Miss Fumi Ashira."

Fumi glared at the polar lion. It snarled and growled, swatting its paws and baring its fangs at the guards, herself included. She examined several columns and the walls. The columns were reinforced with enough steel and titanium to keep it solid during attacks like this. It was rare for a column to break, but if that did happen, the rest of the columns had to be reinforced even further. Fumi dashed towards one of the columns and brandished a rope from her robe. While running, she tied the rope around her waist and threw the rope over one of the decorative claws adorning this specific column. Having enough rope and leeway to run across the wall, she did just that.

After running across the wall, Fumi leapt high in the air and fired a Sword Beam with her katana. It grazed the large white mane of the lion. The polar lion swatted at Fumi, but missed her and hit an unfortunate guard. The rope was still around her waist. She slid below the belly of the lion, slicing into it with the katana. The lion wasn't moving too much, surprisingly. Because of this, Fumi began to formulate a plan.

 _The lion isn't moving much. It keeps swatting its paws at myself and the guards. We always have rope with us… maybe we can tie the lion and subdue it momentarily._

"Alright everyone, I have an idea, but you have to do exactly as I ask." The guards nodded. "Throw your ropes over the lion. Leave no ends undone. I want to immobilize it so it won't do anymore damage until the killing blow is dealt!"

So the guards started throwing their ropes over the polar lion to their partner across the other side of the twelve foot beast. Fumi ran across the wall again, but this time, she leapt over the lion, veering to the right before ducking below it towards the left. The pieces of her rope overlapped. The lion roared in anger, thrashing its body in attempts to break free from its bindings. Some of the guards were slipping, but they still held on. Fumi leapt on top of it and stepped onto the lion's head. She gouged out the lion's eyes, causing it to yowl with pain. Blood was _pouring_ from where its eyes used to be.

Where the human and the Dreamlanders were watching from, shock was plastered on everyone's faces. Though, it was hard to tell with Meta Knight, and King Dedede actually _wasn't_ surprised. A small smile grew on the penguin's face. "I told y'all. You don't know Fumi Ashira. She's always surpassed a set limit. Hell, she'd fly if she wanted to."

"Well, it's not like we didn't believe you, Sire, but we didn't expect her to be so… skilled. We need the fight to end though; it'll be for the better."

And speak of the devil, that end was about to be met. "Move out of my way, everyone! I'm going to kill this thing!" King David said, appearing out of seemingly nowhere. He was now wearing armor all over his body, and a strange, horned mask, so only the penguin's sapphire eyes are exposed. The group parted out of the older king's way as he jumped a floor down to the throne room, landing cleanly on his feet, holding his giant steel warhammer. Fumi noticed the king's arrival and leapt down from her position on the lion's head. She moved out of the king's way and used an icy smoke ball- which basically releases a cold mist- and "disappeared".

"Cover your eyes, children." She told the Dreamlanders. They were startled as to where she came from, but they went ahead and obeyed her. King David's hammer came down on the polar lion's skull with a sickening crunch. Most of the adults and older kids were horrified at the sight presented to them. A mass of blood and flesh remained from where the lion's head used to be. King David turned around, revealing that the front part of his armor was _covered_ in the blood and brain matter of the animal.

"I didn't like doing that… but now that that's taken care of, how about that meeting, eh?" He asked. "Let me get this bloody armor off. I'll need my hammer cleaned too." He handed his hammer to five different guards. They all struggled to carry the massive weapon away to get it cleaned. But they managed to carry it away. King David walked up the steps of the stairs. Everyone got out of his way.

"Well… _that_ just happened… shall we commence with the meeting then, Your Majesties?"

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	4. Chapter 4

Heroes of Popstar: The Human Star Warrior

 **Disclaimer: *points to previous stories***

 **A/N: Super long chapter. Be prepared to do a shit ton of reading XD. This was part of Episode 3, but since it was so long, I split it into two parts. This is the whole brunt of the chapter, so be prepared to read a** ** _LOT._**

Episode 4: Venturing Into An Icy Hell; Make Way For An Unlikely Hero Part 2

After a few minutes, everyone was gathered in the meeting hall of the Windfall Castle. The kids besides Kirby were gathered in a corner with Lyla and Amaris. Tiff was the only one watching the proceedings while Tuff was talking to Lyla and playing with Amaris. Tiff was glaring at the purple demon standing up and explaining his findings. Even if he was supposedly "changed", she didn't trust a damn word he said.

"Alright, here's what I've found: there are three relics like Alexandria's gloves. A ring, a bracelet, and those gloves. The gloves are the most powerful of these three relics, known as the Galaxous Relics. We might have a major threat in our hands, because the holder of these relics is destined to defeat a new Distort." John explained. Alexandria was stunned.

"Wait, another Distort? Like Nightmare?" Alexandria asked. John nodded at her.

"Yep. The Distort you're supposed to fight is a lesser known one called Necromantia. During the earliest time of the war, when Meta Knight and Skyla's ancestor, Sir Jasper, was around, he was the only one who noticed another demon working their way through the shadows while Nightmare was causing his reign of chaos. In a way, Necromantia's approach was much more intelligent than Nightmare's. She didn't draw much attention to herself in the way Nightmare did; so while everyone was worried about destroying Nightmare, finding a Guardian to kill him, Necromantia did her magics in secret. And Jasper caught wind of this. He made those gloves, as well as the other relics, from the energy that was once Necromantia's. Just purified. Have you heard this already?" Alexandria nodded in response.

"Yeah. My mom told me this a couple days ago. She told me how the gloves and mirror were made. Do you have anything else to say?" She asked.

"Well, there's something in here about Necromantia's Sages. There are four Sages of Shadows in all. One is unknown, by basis in this book, since she wasn't born but very late. But the other three are called Luciana, Jezebeth, and Lilith. Not much is written about them in the books I have here, but there is something important to know about them written in a cave high in a mountain in the Isles. About close to the summit of Skyarrow Mountain, lies a deep cave where a 40,000 year old stone tablet is. However, there is an entryway that blocks where the clue is."

They heard a groan come from Fumi. Everyone was confused why she seemed to be protesting. It seemed a bit out of her character. "Um, is there a problem, Fumi?"

"Yes, there is. The main one is the danger level we'll be in if we go through with this." She stated coldly and bluntly. King David nodded in agreement with her statement. "Aye, she's right. Skyarrow Mountain is the second tallest mountain in the Isles. But it's called Skyarrow because if you were to climb up there, eight times out of ten, you aren't able to get out alive. Especially this time of year. Skyarrow Mountain is ravaged by blizzards year-round, but they're the worst in this time, since winds are usually blowing in a cycle, especially at the highest altitudes. I assume our little treasure is at the summit. And it's about 32,000 feet above sea level."

"That's higher than the summit of Mount Everest! And hundreds of people died trying to climb to the top of that! How are we going to get up there?!" Alexandria asked in disbelief. "We have a way. We won't have to climb the majority of the mountain, but we still have quite a climb. There is a spaceship hidden under this castle that can withstand intense subzero temperatures. However, we haven't really used the ship that much, and we need to make sure if the ship will check out so that it will be able to fly and survive the trip. Does anyone have knowledge of that matter?" Fumi asked.

"I can remedy this issue. It won't take but a few minutes. Show me where it is." Skyla stated. Fumi nodded, and the two women walked off. Alexandria drummed her fingers on the table. A sigh escaped the teenager.

"Are you OK?" Callie asked. "I'm fine, just a little nervous. This is my first big mission, and I'm kinda excited, but also fearful. I don't really want to die before I've started all this." The brunette Puffal hummed a moment. "I wouldn't overthink it. If you use your head too much in a fight, you'll lose. You have to think and act at the same time. But if you can't do that, the key is to act decisively. There's gonna be some fight ahead once we get there, and the worst thing about it: we won't know when it'll occur."

John chuckled at Callie's statement and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "How quaint. A teenager giving combat advice to another teenager. Wouldn't you want Meta Knight to give you advice instead of a sixteen year old?" He asked, still chuckling sardonically. "Oh sure, bud, what do you know about fighting? I'm 509 years younger than you, and I have much more combat experience than you would ever get," Callie giggled. "Eh. I'm not gonna say anything else. Thanks for getting those notes though."

"Um… you're welcome, I suppose?" The demon was off put by Callie's abrupt statement; confused even. But he quickly dismissed it and looked over the notes again. A huff was heard coming from the corner where the kids were at. Alexandria looked in that direction and saw Tiff with a sour glare on her face.

"Something wrong, Tiff?" She asked. "Yeah; the fact that you guys are actually believing what that con artist is telling you!" She yelled. "Con artist?! Tiff, what would I accomplish lying to everyone about this?! I'm not lying!"

"Oh sure, you say that now, but what if all of this is just a trap? You've still sent over monsters to kill Kirby, and if you weren't loyal to Nightmare, you would have rebelled against him a long time ago! What if this is a ploy to resurrect him?" Tiff asked. She huffed, walking closer to the table. "You even have Meta Knight fooled. Honestly, That's pretty pathetic. I'm not falling for anything you say!"

Purple hands slammed hard on the wood of the table. A deep crimson gaze met with an emerald green glare. But the look that John gave Tiff could outclass even Meta Knight's death glare. The tension was thick… too thick.

"Tiff… you think I'm leading all of you in a trap. You think I was actually loyal to Nightmare. You don't know the whole story, child. What makes you think I was truly loyal to that megalomaniacal bastard?! Because I sent over those demonbeasts because I didn't WANT to die?! Shows how much you really know." The demon sighed heavily when he said that. "It hurts. It hurts that you can't trust me, not at a time like this. But you know what? I wouldn't trust me either. Not after all the lies I've told." After that, he walked away with no words left to say.

Tiff was stunned. Well… stunned couldn't begin to describe what she felt. Kirby shifted uncomfortably in his chair, a small whimper escaping the little puff. Meta Knight sighed and shook his head in disappointment and disapproval. Tuff had a scowl on his face, though it was one of more confusion than anger, and Amaris whimpered sadly when she saw her father leave. Those of the Windfall Castle had various looks of anger and displeasure. Meta Knight's voice cut through the heavy tension when he spoke to Tiff, golden eyes staring into emerald green.

"Tiff, what did I tell you? Leave the worrying to the adults," he stepped down from his chair. "I told you not to say a word. I understand that you have your doubts about him, I truly do. But look before acting, young one. What good would tricking us do anyway? Cause his daughter to grow up without a father. Have a fair widow that may commit suicide because her husband was executed all because of the voice of a young girl that keeps too many suspicions under her belt? Tiff… Nightmare is gone. Right now, we have a new enemy to deal with. And by the looks of things, not even our former enemy knows to the entirety of who we're dealing with now."

"Meta Knight, it could be all another facade. I don't completely trust him, and yes, I know we all got that, but Meta Knight, I've got my reasons why I don't trust him. Reason one: he sent over the monsters to kill Kirby! Reason two: He lied to Dedede about the demonbeasts. And three: he's as much of a demon as much as any of the other demonbeasts; just smarter."

But just as Meta Knight was about to counter, Lament cut into the conversation. "Tiff, please. He hasn't done anything wrong since we've been here. All he's done was try to turn over a new leaf. And you had to remind him of what he's done in the past. You really don't know the story, little one, and Meta Knight is right; he's only trying to help."

Although the girl was still stunned, Tiff's resolve never seemed to waver. "Why should I believe you Miss Lament? You married the man!"

"You don't have to believe me. But I am looking you in the eye for the sake of our daughter. You don't have to believe us… but look into her eyes. Amaris is a baby. She's never lied. She is pure, even if she's a demon, she still has the innocence of a child." Lament picked up Amaris from Lyla's arms and held the infant demon in her arms. Tiff stared in the child's ruby red eyes. Apparently, this entire time, the little girl was listening to the whole spiel, and the cheerful glow that once glimmered in her beautiful eyes diminished. Even if she was born among demons, Amaris had a glow of purity and innocence unheard of from a child like herself; though she was the first demon born on Popstar. Her look told Tiff, "Hey, I may be born a demon, but I am not like the rest."

Tiff sighed, walked back in the corner, and said nothing else. Right then, Skyla and Fumi returned to the room.

"Alright, everything checks out. We'll be able to fly." Skyla said. Fumi nodded. "Aye. As of tomorrow, we'll fly to Skyarrow Mountain. We'll need a full expedition team that can withstand the elements. I'm afraid the Star Warriors are unable to skip out of this,"

Meta Knight laughed, raising a gloved paw. "It's fine, I didn't think we'd were able to skip away anyway. How many people can the ship carry?" He asked.

"It can carry about 35 people at the most, despite its size. There is a storage area to put all of the supplies we need and a makeshift medical ward. I'll accompany you along the way. I've scaled the mountain before on a pilgrimage journey."

"We'll go too." Everyone turned in the direction of King David and King Dedede. "After all, you'll need a little bit of muscle in case we have to carry a giant stone tablet or anything of that nature." Fumi raised her hand, shaking her head. "I can understand Dedede going with us, but Your Majesty, you have a job here, and even though you killed the polar lion, I cannot allow you to come."

"Fumi, I am your king. And as your king, I order you to allow me to accompany you all. Is that understood?" The glare that formed on the older penguin's visage seemed to dispel the look of his advisor. But, only slightly, as she still had a look of annoyance on her face. A very irritated sigh escaped the humanoid, and she crossed her arms.

"Fine. Go ahead, Your Majesty." She turned away from King David and looked at Lament. "The blizzard is starting to get pretty bad. You should stay in one of our guest rooms tonight." Fumi told her.

"Will the blizzard affect your flight to Skyarrow Mountain?" Lament asked. "It will have died down good enough for us to launch, but it'll get even worse than it'll be tonight. Luckily, the Polaris is able to sustain high winds despite its lightweight frame," a hint of pride was heard in her voice when she said that. "Halcandrans are brilliant when it comes to their shipbuilding." She trailed off for a little while, her sapphire eyes sparkling a bit in excitement and wonder. Obviously, the female armsmaster was intrigued by how technology works. But, everyone started staring at her.

"Ahem. Well, we'll leave at 6:00 am. I'll need someone to help us supply our ship prior to 0600. I have the boxes of supplies set already, just in case we had to fly, but we'll have to have more furs and maybe some added armor, plus rations. Any volunteers willing to wake before dawn?" She asked.

"I will." Everyone turned to see that John had come back. Fumi raised a brow at the purple demon. "You will, John? Are you sure you're able to pick up some of the equipment?"

"Some of it, yes. Others; not without help. Manual labor isn't exactly my specialty, but carpe diem." The demon shrugged. Sure, he wasn't as physically strong as any of the guards, or the knights. Heck, he was smaller than almost everyone in the room, and Fumi towered over him, which made the humanoid woman even moreso intimidating. But he felt compelled to help regardless.

Fumi shrugged as well. Can't look a gift horse in the mouth, no matter how miniscule the horse was. And if she said anything else, John probably would have failed to listen anyway. The things she does working with stubborn men. She didn't mind, however; it was a lot similar to her old tribe. She adjusted her gloves and walked off, prepping herself for the trek up the mountain in her own way. Everyone else followed suit, dismissing to wherever their feet carried them.

(0.0) (0.0) (^u^) (^u^) (0u0) (0u0)

It was very very early in the morning; about 4:30 am. Usually, nobody would be stirring at this time except the nightwatch guards. But a few extra bodies were stirring at this time. About four castle guards were heaving boxes into the storage area of the Polaris. Among those guards was John, who was carrying about two boxes with a combined weight of forty pounds.

It wasn't easy work for the little demon, and two of the guards kept preventing him from dropping the cargo (a thankful task; though the guards saw they deserved no thanks from the demon carrying double his own weight) but aside from that small stamp of issues, carrying the cargo to the storage area of the Polaris, was pretty simple. The ship was in the garage, and because there were even guards keeping watch over the ship, it was actually quite warm. In fact, it was making the demon sleepier than he already was, though he tried to ignore the nagging feelings of lethargy. Keeping his trenchcoat on made this feeling even worse.

John rubbed the sleep from his eyes, setting a box he was carrying down for a moment before picking it up again. A female guard that moved from her position of guarding the ship to help the others move supplies on the ship noticed this and took the box from the demon's hands.

"Here, Mr. Starr, I'll take care of it." She told him. "I didn't really ask for help though, miss. Thank you, but I'll be fine." A yawn escaped him after he said that. The guard's concerned look only grew. "Are you sure you'll be alright? You look like you're about to pass out." John only laughed at her statement, attempting to mask the obvious. "Nonsense! I used to work late every night while I was at NME! I'll be fine, young lady. You can help if you like, but we only… have a few boxes left…" The demon's haughty tone turned to more of a tired tone. He rubbed his eyes again.

The young guard raised a brow at the tired little demon in front of her. He was being as stubborn as most of her male colleagues and her king. Even the headstrong trait wasn't far among races. "If you're going to keep working then, ask for help. I don't want you passing out on the garage floor, and neither does anyone else. Right?" Her colleagues nodded in agreement. "I'll ask for help, believe you me…"

He was slightly dazed at this point, and the tired voice was the only thing he spoke in, but from there, anything that weighed more than twenty pounds (which was the majority of the supplies) the guards took care of. John carried one more box to the supply area, and that was the last of the supplies. But, he did not come back out.

After setting the last box down, the demon fell to the floor. He curled up into a ball, eyes closed in slumber. A male guard checked to see why John didn't come out of the ship. An irritated sigh escaped the penguin guard. He walked out the Polaris and to his colleagues.

"Well, our demon friend fell asleep on the floor." He said, a tone of amusement as well as annoyance in his voice. "Should we let His Majesty or Miss Fumi know he's in there?" The female guard asked. "And let them whip our asses for letting him pass out?! Hell no! It'd be safer to let them find out on their own!" A third guard said. The first male guard sighed, then stretched his arms. "I dunno about you guys, but I think we should go back to the barracks. It'll be another hour til Miss Fumi gets everyone up to go to Skyfall Mountain. Our morning patrol starts at 7:00, and I'd like to get some shuteye." The first male guard walked off. His colleagues looked confused, but soon followed suit.

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When 6:00 rolled around, Fumi woke up everyone involved with their expedition. The hardest to wake up was, of course, King Dedede, but that didn't even annoy her. Once everyone was awake, they were in the garage where the Polaris was. Fumi and David stood in front of the door to the ship.

"Alright everyone, I believe you all understand what we have to do, right?" Fumi asked. The group nodded.

"Follow behind Fumi and myself when we climb the mountain. I hold the map to the cavern we need to go. Once we get there, we should have the book to find whatever relic we need before we all freeze from frostbite. We need to be extra prepared for the climb. Everything we need should be in the storage area. Alright, with all that out of the way, let's go!"

With the bold statement from the elder king, they entered the Polaris. Skyla walked to the controls. Using a remote she found on the dashboard, she opened the door to the garage. After that, she had set a course for Skyarrow Mountain. With everything set, all she did was hit the ignition, and off they went.

The trip was pretty smooth sailing. The blizzard was still brewing, though it hadn't reached its peak yet. Kirby was peering outside one of the plexiglass windows in awe. Meta Knight stood next to the little Puffal.

"What do you see, little one?" He asked. "Evewyt'ing wooks tiny! It so pwetty! See, wook, Medakni." Kirby moved out of Meta's way so that he too could see outside. The knight's amber eyes glittered and sparkled much like his student/ adopted son when he saw outside.

Windfall was below them. Or at least, the edge of the city of Windfall. The whole city was almost behind them now, and they were going to fly over the forests. Both Meta Knight and Kirby were amazed how trees could survive such harsh conditions. They were a virtual hybrid of a pine tree and a spruce tree. Alexandria went to see the Puffals.

"What's out there?" She asked. "Take a look for yourself." Meta admonished. Alex peered out the window. Her gaze matched that of Kirby and Meta Knight. They were right over the forest, and snow capped every tree below. There were some rolling hills, frozen sapphire blue lakes, and Alexandria even saw a deer down there. Her magenta eyes sparkled with awe. They then heard a warm chuckle to their right. The three looked and saw King Dedede, smiling at them.

"Pretty, ain't it? I've never seen it from the air, but the Snowstorm Forest is beautiful this time of year. Heck, every part of the Isles is pretty. It's September, sure, but fall and winter are the prettiest times of year for the Isles."

"I've always been more fond of the cold. The warmth of Dreamland always makes me tired and sluggish. As beautiful Dreamland is, there are some more things I would rather see. Popstar is one of the more naturally beautiful planets I've been too. A first on my list, second being Hope Star. Or the little of I've seen of it anyway." Meta Knight chuckled. "I guess everything must be strong here, huh, King David?"

The older king nodded in agreement. "As beautiful as it is, the Isles are cruel. You never see but few people getting by without doing some form of manual labor. And you never see a man eat less than half his own weight. Despite that, we have no obesity! Well, maybe just some, with myself. Heh. But my point is, we have to work to survive. I'm not entirely sure the whole story of my son after he dealt with NME, but John told me that it wasn't good. And frankly, son, I'm disappointed you fell for that racket he told you… but, it worked out in the end, because Khione is dead thanks to John, so I forgive the mistake you made."

King Dedede chuckled sheepishly. "Dad, I was almost seventeen when that happened. And, to be honest, at that time, I really did care about protecting Cappytown. That's the reason why I joined with them way back then. He told me that I can buy those monsters to protect them. But, when I remember tricking them so easily… I'll be honest, I'm actually sickened, those Cappies are so stupid. It's pathetic."

Sword and Blade laughed at the statement, Callie nodded hurriedly with her chocolate brown eyes wide, clarifying her agreement. Skyla turned around.

"Hey, everyone, start getting whatever else you may need. We're almost to the mountain based on what Fumi told me. I'll keep the controls, but go get what you need. It's -35 degrees out there, and it only gets colder as we keep climbing." Everyone nodded in compliance, and went to the supply room.

They tore open the boxes, revealing that there were pickaxes, ropes, more parkas of all sizes, snow boots, thermoses for drinks, and even several packs of rations. Everyone grabbed some supplies of some sort. Most EVERYONE grabbed extra parkas, just to keep warmth. Once that was done, they returned to the front of the ship.

"OK. I'll set the solaria power up so the heat will stay on. It's about 8:07 right now, so even with the cloud cover, there's enough light to keep the power on. How long should it be until it gets so bad that not even light can pierce the clouds, Fumi?" Skyla asked.

"Hopefully five hours. If not, then we have to get going now, so we'll be able to get what we came for. Alright! Let's go while the storm is still somewhat calm." Everyone nodded in agreement with the female armsmaster, and followed her out the ship. Immediately, the group was met with a biting cold.

"Whoo… it's FREEZING cold! I can feel my pores filling with ice!" Alexandria exclaimed. "Yeah. We better move. I don't want to freeze out here." Callie said with humorous sardonicism. Everyone started on with the journey. They started the hike.

The trail was pretty easy from the start, but soon they had to climb a little more as the trail got rougher and the altitude grew higher. An hour passed and the group was up a very good distance up Skyarrow Mountain. Not much longer, and they'd be in the system of caves that led to the summit. But, there was one remaining obstacle left before they could do that.

There was a massive wall of ice and rock! It was so tall, it probably had four of those five caves riddled on its surface! But, if they had to climb to a cave, they needed to go over the wall. Everyone was looking up.

"This has to be at least 100 feet high. Not that big of an issue, but the blizzard is much worse the higher we go." Fumi stated. "Well, some of us are able to fly. Meta Knight and Callie can. Kirby can too. We'll throw some ropes for King Dedede and King David, maybe even you and Alexandria." Sword explained.

"I'm able to fly too." Alex told him. "And thank you, but I don't need it. Wait… hand it to me, I can help King Dedede and King David climb."

"Well, go ahead and fly up there." But as they were doing that, Fumi had already brandished two pickaxes and was already climbing the cliff face. The soldiers were quite confused why she was trying to climb with nothing to secure her, but the pace she used, they really had nothing to say. So, they flew to the top of the cliff face.

Once they made it to the top, it wasn't long before Fumi followed them up. "Throw the rope." She told Meta Knight. "Are you sure, Fumi? It's so cold that it looks like the rope will fray and break." The humanoid took the rope and examined it. Thin strings from the rope were coming loose. "I think this will be OK for one of them. Meta, warp down there and warp King David up here. He's stronger. He'll be able to help pull Dedede up." Meta Knight nodded, then warped down with his Dimensional Cape and warped King David to the top of the cliff face.

"Why can't I warp down there to get Dedede, Fumi? Wouldn't that be easier?" Meta Knight asked. "Dammit you two, I'll get him." Callie said impatiently. Callie warped down there with her own Dimensional Cape and got King Dedede. "Huh. I'd figure we would have to fight something by now. It's actually making me kind of nervous…" Alexandria said uncertainly.

"The only thing we can do now is keep going. Don't stop. We can't stop now. Let's go." And they went onward to the icy caves within the mountain.

(0.0) (0.0) (^u^) (^u^) (0u0) (0u0)

Back within the storage room of the Polaris, a tired groan was elicited from the stowaway on board. John's crimson eyes opened to the metallic room. The demon was confused. Was he not back at Windfall? He wiped the sleep from his eyes and stood up. He walked to the main deck and onto the side door. A freezing, bone chilling wind greeted him. Shivering, he quickly shut the door.

Panic settled in when he realized what happened. But there was nothing he could do. So John tried to walk back to the storage room, but ended up tripping over his coat. Something fell on top of him from a chair when that happened though. He sat back up and examined what fell, and horror grew on the demon's visage.

"The book! Without it, they can't open the gateway to the chamber. They'll… they'll freeze out there! I need to get this to them." He gripped the maroon cover of the book. The demon looked at the side door of the Polaris again. "But… it's probably blustering out there. Those winds would've knocked me down if I stepped out there." A sigh left the demon. He looked at the book again. In his mind's eye, he saw Amaris and Lament in the shine of the cover.

 _"Go and help them. If Necromantia attacks, we could all be in danger."_

"But… Lament…"

 _"Please, John… go out there for our sakes… do you not want Amaris to grow up? To have a future?"_

"Yes, but…"

 _"Please go… for our sakes…"_

He couldn't ignore his mind anymore. Risking my life or not, I have to go out there for Lament and Amaris. He thought to himself. So, like the group of fighters before him, the demon dove into the boxes of gear, bundling himself up in three parkas, even over his navy blue coat. Feeling around in the pocket of said coat, he pulled out a revolver, and stuck that in his right pocket. He placed the book in a backpack under some pickaxes, rope, a thermos, some ammo for his revolver-which somehow wound up in a box with pillows- two pairs of gloves, and some black snow boots just the right size for the demon's feet.

He pulled the three hoods of his parkas over his head, his crimson eyes glowing faintly in the shadow cast by them. With the backpack strewn over his shoulders, book inside, he left the Polaris and started following the trail the heroes took.

It was harder going for the demon than it was for the group before him. The blizzard was so strong, the winds and the icy shards of snow felt like glass hitting his face. Not to mention how cold it was. Even with the three parkas and his trenchcoat, John felt as if he was unclothed; it was that cold! The snow was a virtual mist, blocking much of his field of vision. His limited sense of touch helped guide him through the mountain trail, which was pretty tricky. One wrong step could cause the demon to plunge to his death. The wind not dying down, but getting worse as he went along didn't help him much at all either.

He shivered under the four layers of clothes. The wind bit his skin, the icy flakes of snow hit his face, not to mention that his hands and feet were numb. Heck, he could feel the very blood freezing in his veins. Most of his stature would turn back at this point. But he had Lament and Amaris to fight for. And turning back to go to the Polaris would be cowardice.

Eventually, he met up with the same icy cliff face the heroes met with before. John's face fell, in both fear and anger. A shaky sigh escaped the demon, and he continued to shiver in the -50 degree cold. "Gods above… how were they able to scale this thing? Wait… half of that lot is able to fly, but Fumi isn't. She probably scaled it! Maybe Dedede and David did too… but they aren't that crazy, are they?"

John walked closer to the cliff face. About four feet above his head, he saw a divot in the ice where something was stuck into it earlier. An idea came into his head. He flipped the backpack over his shoulder and pulled the pickaxes out.

"If one of them didn't climb up there to throw a rope, I can only assume Fumi must have climbed up there herself," John said as he placed the pickaxes in the snow, shutting the pack, and throwing it back over his shoulder. "So I guess I should do what she did… not sure if I should, that cliff is awfully high. But… whatever it takes to get the book to them. I assume they're at the top." A sigh left the demon. "A 100 foot cliff that could mean my death, should I fall." The demon shuddered in fear. "Just don't look down. Do this for your family."

He stuck the pickaxe in his right hand in the cliff first. Then he followed that action with the pickaxe in his left hand. Right, left, right, left, right, left. The sound of metal breaking ice could faintly be heard, though the sound of the wind's howl was louder. Right, left, right, left. He barely climbed up four feet. He may've had long arms, but unfortunately for John, they weren't that strong. It was miraculous he was actually climbing at all!

Right, left, right, left, right. The same rhythm of the axes echoed in the demon's mind as he continued the climb. As slow going as this was, he was lucky that he was keeping a decent pace. If he were to fall, should he make it to the highest point of the cliff face, it was his demise. In the past, if Amaris wasn't alive and if he wasn't with Lament, John probably would have turned back in an instant. This was different though. He didn't have anything to prove, no, but he had two people to fight for.

 _Lament and Amaris. As long as I think about them, I'll keep climbing. I just have to keep climbing. I don't care if my bones break from this exertion, I just have to keep going. Lament… Amaris… keep me going. I'll come home to you both, safe and sound._

 _I have to._

 _For their sakes._

(0.0) (0.0) (^u^) (^u^) (0u0) (0u0)

Meanwhile, back at Windfall Castle, the blizzard wasn't nearly as bad as it is at Skyarrow Mountain, but the winds were very strong. The only ones required to be outside right now were the guards, and they were smart to bundle up in multiple layers. The kids sat inside, Tiff and Victoria talking with Lyla while Tuff watched the snow fall.

"This sucks! We could be out there in that snow like the guards right now! Why can't Queen Elize just let us go?" Tuff whined. "Because for one, Tuff, you're helplessly underdressed. Two, you'll more than likely run off, stranding yourself in subzero temperatures, leading to either sickness or your demise. Is that a good enough reason?" Lament asked.

Tuff frowned at the demoness. She was a lot crabbier than usual, and that may've had something to do with her husband not being here, but seeing the look of concern on the woman's face, Tuff cast aside his brief animosity towards her for this one time. He jumped off the windowsill, walking toward his sister and Lyla.

"Doesn't she seem worried to you guys?" He asked. "Uh huh. Mr. John isn't here, and that's probably why she's worried. I don't get it either, so I think he could've fallen asleep on the Polaris. How odd." Lyla mused.

"I probably think he snuck on there to sabotage something. Why else would he have asked to help load the supplies?" Tiff asked. Tuff and Lyla slapped their foreheads in annoyance.

"Tiff, once again, for the ten thousandth time, Mr. John isn't a bad man! Would someone as bad as you say he is have a daughter as innocent as Amaris?" Lyla pointed toward the green haired infant. She shared the same look of concern her mother had. Tiff's glare faded into a frown. The young girl didn't like seeing little Amaris so worried. Cheeriness suited her better.

The doors suddenly opened, though it wasn't due to the wind. Escargoon, who somehow slipped outside to possibly study the snowstorm going on around the castle, slithered inside. The lavender hue to his skin was more of a pale blue, which was darker on his face. The snail shivered, tightening his grip on the coat Dedede loaned him.

"-44 degrees Fahrenheit out there. That's unreal for September weather! I feel like my shell may crack if something hit it, that's how cold it is!" He said. Elize walked toward him. "I'll brew you some tea if you like.

But why would you go out there in that icy hell? That's a disaster waiting to happen, Escargoon." She told him. The snail merely nodded at the queen. Elize had the faintest of smiles on her beak, but to the untrained eyes, it looked mainly like a straight face.

"I want to go outside. Should I shift into a polar bear?" Victoria asked. "Whatever you want, but this is serious, Victoria." Tiff said. "It's about Johnny, isn't it?" Victoria asked, an annoyed look on her face. "I don't trust him! I'm sure something bad happened by now!" Then Tiff looked at Lament and Amaris again. "I'll be right back."

Tiff walked toward the mother and daughter demons. "Miss Lament, I have to ask, what in NOVA's name do you see in your husband? Even though you're a demon… you're so nice. What could someone like you see in someone like him?" She asked. Lament sighed.

"If I tell you, you won't show animosity toward him anymore? Please?" Lament asked. "I'm telling the whole truth when I tell you this, young one. My one good eye is looking right into your eyes, child." Tiff nodded in response. She understood the demoness clearly.

"I've known him since I was ten years old. He showed me the way around NME, I was confused, I had no memory of who I was in the past. In a way, he was the only one that stood by my side. Demons used to attack me because of how small I was and how underdeveloped my powers were. He was the only one that stood up for me, even if he didn't have powers or strength to his name. His status as Nightmare's second in command was what made the demons stay away from me. We knew they didn't fear us, they feared his status," Lament chuckled, remembering some of the memories she shared with John when they were young.

"We shared much. But, truth of the matter, he always had some animosity and displeasure toward Nightmare. There was something that had happened when he was very young… something he couldn't remember, but he knew that he was plagued by nightmares as a boy. The visions he described to me were too frightening to be forgotten. Monsters big and small… grotesque and gruesome. Blood and poisons… Wolfwrath snarling, foaming at the mouth, and at the pinnacle of all of it was a figure with a blackened aura, glowering red eyes, and a sneering smile that could make a great white shark quiver in fear."

Lament stopped talking briefly when she heard Amaris whimper. The infant's ruby red eyes were wide, a frown sullying her usually happy face. "Lyla, can you take Amaris? I think my story is scaring her." Lyla nodded, then picked up the little girl and carried her back to where she was, with Tuff and Victoria. Lament continued her story.

"These visions, the hell he was able to see, observing the planets his father targeted, John wanted to escape. He wanted to leave. He wanted me, along with three others, to join him. We couldn't, however. One of the demons he wanted to escape with us, Solah, saw into the future that it wasn't going to end well if we tried to escape. Two of the four visions she had ended with all four of us dying. Two more visions did have us escaping, but they had us crashing at a GSA base. We ended up dying in prison. These visions were foresight as far as four years, but at that time, John was 25, and I was 23- 500 years," Lament shook her head.

"It's still hard to believe it was that long ago. And about that long ago, we came up with a plan. There was no limit to how long we were to keep it; we had no clue as to when the Guardian destined to defeat Nightmare would be born. The face you saw, the man that delivered the demons, that wasn't the real face of my dear husband."

Tiff was confused when Lament said that. Everything else that the female demon said, she was able to understand. But that last little statement… Tiff didn't comprehend at all. "What do you mean by "that wasn't the real face"?" Tiff asked.

"The man you saw on the communication monitor was a facade. A ploy to keep Nightmare from figuring out the truth. I was known by few other than the demons, and John was merely the man behind the shades. Customer Service was the mask he wore. Anything else besides his title was never known by the customers. They had no reason to know." Lament sighed when she said that.

"But, if you weren't loyal to Nightmare, why couldn't you just join the GSA?" Tiff asked.

"It wasn't that easy, Tiff. If we were to escape, we'd be killed, and even if we made it to a GSA base, there was no guarantee the soldiers would accept us, even if Solah told them all that Nightmare was planning. It was too much of a risk. We had to bide our time. Then, Kirby came around, and it wasn't but eight months before the final battle that we learned that I was pregnant with Amaris. At that moment, we didn't care what happened, as long as there was something that distracted Nightmare long enough for John, myself, Luna, Moon, and Solah to escape. Luna and Moon are Solah's sisters, by the way."

Tiff took the information like a sponge absorbing water. This story, she believed. Lament was much more honest than her husband. Plus, she could read her intentions much easier than John, thanks to the fact that Lament didn't wear sunglasses. Tiff smiled at Lament.

"Alright. I'll take your word for it, Miss Lament. Why would he be so willing to act so different than in the past though? That's the main thing that confuses me."

Lament brushed back a bit of her hair. "It's more on the line of redemption. Very few people are actually willing to trust a thing a demon says to begin with. John was aware what he was doing, sending the monsters to those planets. If I never met him… he'd probably be dead in fire that won't be seen until 900 years later. Without Nightmare holding him back, he'll show you all there is more to him than meets the eyes. I'm sure you'll all agree indeed."

A smile was on Lament's face. About halfway in the story, Elize came back with Escargoon, and they listened to the demoness from a distance. Lyla, Victoria, and Tuff did the same. Amaris was asleep in the young princess's arms, suckling on her thumb. Tiff smiled at the sight. But she looked out the window not long after that. The blizzard was still coming down hard. The cheerful look faded into one of concern; she couldn't hardly see outside, but the snow was coming down so hard, she could safely bet it was hell at Skyarrow.

 _Please make it back… everyone._

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Deep within a cave back at Skyarrow Mountain, the warriors ventured deep. They weren't far from the summit now, but it was so cold that they couldn't even feel their own bodies under the clothes. It was -70 degrees right now, and with each step they took, they grew colder. But it also meant they were getting closer and closer to the clue. Alexandria shivered, but she was also excited. This was the home stretch, and she knew that if she shouted loud enough, they'd be buried alive.

"We're getting close. I'm so cold, but God, it's so awesome to have gotten this far. I'm proud to have done this with you all!" A broad smile was on the teenage girl's face. Kirby giggled and Meta Knight was grinning behind his mask.

"Indeed. It was an honor to work alongside you all. But this is just the first of many adventures, should we find the clue we need." Meta Knight looked back toward Fumi and King David. Both hadn't said a word in a while. King Dedede hasn't said much either, and Meta Knight could sense why: focus.

The younger king wanted everyone to stay focused at the task at hand, knowing that if they stopped for too brief a moment, one of them could freeze to death. The atmosphere was tense, and the air was getting too thin to breathe. Sword and Blade trudged furthest behind, but they ran to keep from falling too far behind.

"Stay alert. We don't know what we'll find, but I'm sure that if it's hostile, it will be nearest to the summit." Fumi stated aloud. The younger soldiers and Dedede nodded in response. They kept on climbing, trekking the cave. It was the only thing the group could do for now. They passed through another system of caves, venturing higher to the top until they saw a strange stone door. A giant zodiac was engraved into it.

"Aha! This is it! This is the door! We've made it!" There were cheers of celebration when the statement was said. "Hold on a second, we have to put the zodiac together the right way. There should be a page in the book that says how to arrange it."

Fumi set her backpack down. She dug around in it for a while, but oddly enough, she never found it. "Huh, I could've sworn I had it in there. Your Majesty, is the book in your bag?" She asked. King David set his backpack down and searched for the maroon book. "Nope. It's not in there." Fumi's face fell in rage and shock. "Goddammit! It must be back on the Polaris! No! I can't believe I forgot the book…! And there's no way for us to go back down there without the long climb again!"

Alexandria raised her hand. "If I may suggest something. I looked over the picture of the zodiac yesterday. The symbols are arranged clockwise. Lemme see…" Alexandria walked toward the door. There, she saw a star, a fire sword, an ice sword, the NME symbol, a silhouette of a strange woman, a silhouette of a man and a woman, a Ferine heart, and a sword of electricity. The thing that freaked Alexandria out the most though was that her own silhouette was at the center of the door.

"I think I know what to do. We arrange the blocks of the zodiac in order. Then we press the symbol in the middle, and if our answer is right, then we go further. If not, then we try again unless there is a trap."

"Well, that makes some sense," Sword stated hesitantly. "But if we do trigger a trap, what do you think it might be?" He asked. "Devil's in the details, I don't have a clue, but standing here freezing our butts off isn't going to get us closer to the clue we need. You guys need to help me with this too, those blocks have to be pretty heavy." She said, talking mostly to King David and King Dedede. The two penguins nodded.

They picked up the star stone and set it at the top of the zodiac. Next, they picked up the heart stone and set it to the top left. The silhouette of the woman went below it. Then the fire sword was on the right of the star, the ice sword following by it, and the electric sword after that. The NME symbol was at the bottom. The silhouette of the man and the woman were next to it to the left. Alexandria pushed the center of the door where her silhouette was, but the stones glowed red. Nothing opened.

"Oh no… I think I did something wrong…" Alexandria said nervously. "It was worth a try, kid, nothing wrong with trying." King Dedede said, readying his hammer to attack. A roar could be heard from within the cave. Foot stamps could be heard not too far from their location. Soon enough, a white beast, not unlike a polar lion, but smaller, burst through the ice. Everyone brandished a weapon. Kirby copied an ice shard and changed into Ice Kirby.

The beast roared horribly loud, snarling and hissing. It swatted a paw toward Alexandria and Kirby, who both dodged the attack. But the beast rebounded and swat its tail at Alexandria, who couldn't dodge it in time, and was forced into the icy wall. Fumi and Meta Knight responded with Sword Beams, varying in size and power. King David swung a greatsword he kept sheathed the whole trip, creating a large, arced beam of its own. Kirby fired off shards of ice, and Sword and Blade went closer and attacked the beast's paws and legs. Skyla launched a Blazing Sword Beam toward the monster's head, but it hit the left leg, singing the beast's hair, but not causing much damage.

The monster roared again, and it fired a burst of icy wind from its maw. Everyone dodged the attack, but the result was icy crystals taller than Dedede and David stacked on top of one another together formed. The younger of the two kings swung his mighty wooden hammer and broke the left front leg of the monster. It screeched in pain.

Alexandria and Kirby rebounded with their own attacks, varying in strength for Alex, but Kirby went all out. The little Puffal blew a blizzard toward the monster, much to his ally's dismay, for the beast wasn't even phased! With a low growl, it swat its tail at everyone, knocking them into the icy wall.

"How the hell is this thing still moving so well?! I broke the motherfucker's leg!" Dedede exclaimed angrily. "I don't know what's going on either! It's moving swiftly for its size, and the attacks aren't as erratic as a polar lion's! This thing truly is a monster!" Fumi yelled.

"Graaah! Dammit! My arm!" Meta Knight cried, gripping his right arm. Blood was staining his glove, and a single, ugly cut bled on the ice. Alexandria took Meta Knight away from the battle and took out the first aid kit from his cape. She patched the wound up as best she could despite the circumstances they were faced with. After that, they continued fighting. The heroes continued to struggle, and exhaustion from the blizzard coupled with the battle began to take its toll, the burden affecting Alexandria the most. The battle raged on for almost an hour. Until…

Bang! A single gunshot rang out, silencing the battle for that instant. The wound hit the temple of the beast's head. Bang! Bang! Bang! Three more shots rung out, and those three hit their marks, two ending up on the monster's chest, and another landing on the eye. The beast fell down, and the heroes turned to see their hero. Shock adorned everyone's faces when they saw who it was.

Their hero was none other than John! He looked awfully haggard, obviously exhausted from the climb he had, but he was looking blue. That was oddly confusing because he had to have had three parkas and his trenchcoat on! The gun, although lowered to his side, shook in his hand, trembling, because of how cold he was.

"I have the book. Can you hurry and fix the zodiac before…" He couldn't finish his sentence. John passed out face first, on the icy ground. Everyone gasped when this happened. Alexandria and Fumi ran to his side, and soon enough, Kirby, Skyla, and Callie followed. Fumi pressed her hand against the demon's forehead, immediately pulling it back. "This isn't good! He's as cold as this ice! He could be suffering from hypothermia!"

"We need to get him back to the Polaris. It'll keep him warm until we get the artifact." Skyla stated firmly. Kirby and the women nodded in agreement. "We can't leave yet!" King David yelled. "We've come so far, and who knows how the Dimensional Capes work! We won't be able to come back up here!"

"David, he'll die if we keep debating this damn thing! We have to keep him warm!"

But before the two could shout anymore, Alexandria stood up. "Guys guys! I have an idea! Kirby and I will keep him warm, we just need a match so Kirby can gain the Fire Ability." Kirby discarded his Ice Ability when she said that. Meta Knight lit a match, which Kirby inhaled. Alexandria took her cape off her back and swaddled the demon in it. "Don't worry, Johnny. We'll make sure you won't die." She brushed a lock of green hair from the demon's face. Fumi was sifting through the backpack, unearthing the maroon book. She opened to the page with the zodiac.

"OK, the Star goes on top. The Ferine heart goes to the top left. The electric sword goes on the top right, following clockwise are the ice sword, fire sword, the woman's silhouette, the NME symbol, and the man and woman silhouette."

The two kings followed Fumi's orders and set the zodiac up to a T. Alexandria walked to the door and pressed into it, like she did before. The door glowed a magenta glow, and it opened. Ecstatic looks were on the faces of the heroes. King Dedede and King David ran to the clue first. The others were quick to follow. When they saw the artifact, they were surprised to see what was etched in.

There was a combination of hieroglyphics and letters. The group didn't recognize the letters that were etched to the stone. "This is it huh? I can make some things out of the hieroglyphics, but the letters elude me." Meta Knight said. "Hurry and take it! We need to go!" Callie yelled. Meta Knight nodded, then threw his cape over the artifact.

"Alright everyone! Huddle around me! I'm warping us to the Polaris!" Meta Knight yelled. Everyone huddled as tightly as possible around Meta Knight. He warped everyone to the inside of the Polaris. Skyla immediately took off, and they went back to Windfall.

But, a figure was watching them the whole time within the shadows of the cave. They narrowed their amber eyes in distaste before disappearing to another area. A sinister chuckle could be heard from them, a female voice could be made out.

"One of these days…"

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On the deck of the Polaris, everyone was trying to help tend the ailing demon. Fumi was removing the ice covered clothes until she got to his suit. "Dedede? Could you get a warm rag? Wet it. I need to find out what his temperature is. Please get a thermometer." She told him. King Dedede nodded, then went to get one. He didn't take too long, and he gave her a thermometer that goes into the ear. Fumi nodded thankfully and inserted the device in the demon's ear.

The digits counted for a small while. Her face fell in shock and horror when she saw what his temperature was. "89.2 degrees. Good thing we got his wet and cold clothes off, otherwise we would have made things worse. Turn the heat up, Skyla, please."

Skyla nodded and cranked the heat up to the maximum. At that moment, King Dedede came back with the rag, wrung out, very very warm. Fumi placed it over John's forehead, patting it against the cold purple and blue skin. "There's something I don't get. How could he get hypothermia? He was bundled up in all those coats. Shouldn't he be OK? Cold, but fine?" Alexandria asked.

"I'll show you why. I'm going to take his shirt off, so it'll be easier for you to see, OK?" Fumi asked. Alexandria blushed slightly. It was over the top to take his shirt off, but she needed to know why he was in such danger. She nodded and Fumi went ahead and removed the garment.

Alexandria was actually pretty confused. The demon's physique was so scrawny, his very ribs showed, which was odd, since Alex was sure he ate normally. No fat could be seen on the body at all, and if it wasn't for the fact that the demon looked partially anorexic, Alexandria envied him.

"Wow… so this was partially the reason he collapsed. What was the other part?"

"He overexerted himself. His body wasn't built to push to such extremes like -70 degree cold and thinning mountain air. Hell, he's so scrawny, I'm surprised he scaled that wall at all." She sat the demon up, about to put his shirt back on, but she noticed that Dedede was eyeing the demon's back. "What is it?" She asked.

"Ya gotta look at his back. He's got a whole bunch of scars. So many that it's scary, actually." He told her. Fumi turned the body so that she saw his back, and Alex gasped when she saw all the marks adorning him. They looked like whiplashes, and there were so many, it scared her. _What could have happened to him that caused this?_ She thought. She ran a hand on the marks. Newer scars jut out more, and a lot of the time, scars like that poured blood when the wounds opened. Part of the whiplashes were on his shoulders as well. No wonder the demon seldom wore short sleeved shirts.

"Oh my God, what could've happened to him?" Alex asked. "Heck if I know. Looks like he was whipped." Dedede replied. "Those scars are a lighter purple than the rest of his skin," Meta Knight stated as he too caught a glimpse of the scars. "They look old too. Maybe he's been having those marks. They couldn't have been recent. Nightmare's been dead for eight months, and no monster is smart enough to wield a whip." Silence was prevalent after Meta said that and Fumi slipped the shirt back onto their stowaway. It was a silent ride until they got to Windfall and they landed in the garage.

A major party was gathered up in the throne room. "Hold the phone everyone! Before we start celebrating, we need to get John into the medical ward and treated for hypothermia!" King David announced. Murmurs were heard through the crowd. Lament, who was carrying Amaris in one arm, shoved everyone who was in her way to see her husband.

"Oh dear gods… John…" The cracking in her voice was heavily evident when she spoke. Amaris whimpered, recognizing that her mother was scared and fearful while her father was unconscious. Alexandria laid the unconscious demon to the floor. "Is he going to be alright?" Lament asked. "He is. We managed to get his temperature up to 96 degrees, but he's still a little sick. We'll need to keep you all in the castle for now. I'm… I'm sorry that this happened, Lament. He must have fallen asleep on the ship. But he was a big hero to us today."

Lament looked up at Fumi when she said that. "Really? What did he do?"

"He killed a monster with his revolver. We forgot the book back on the ship, and he climbed all that way just to deliver it to us. I don't have a clue why he would do all of this just for a book, but if we stayed out there much longer, we all would have perished a cold, unforgiving death." Meta Knight explained. Lament flashed a small smile.

"I'm glad he's safe. That's all that matters." Her smile grew when she saw the deep crimson eyes of her lover open once again. "Lament? Amaris? Am I… am I back at the castle?" He asked. His voice was hoarse, though that was to be expected after braving subzero temperatures and nearly dying of hypothermia. Amaris squirmed and squealed in Lament's arms. The little demon whined and whimpered, babbling as she did so, until:

"Dadee!" She cried, much to the surprise of everyone in the room, and the delight of the two parents. "Let her go, Lament, I think she wants to see me."

Lament did as instructed, releasing her daughter on the floor. Amaris crawled at a speedy pace towards John, giggling as she did so. She finally rest her head on top of the older demon's chest with a contented sigh. "Dadee…" she murmured, closing her eyes as she snuggled against her father's chest. He smiled proudly, eyes never darting away from the sight. He stroked her hair, sighing in relief. He was happy to be here.

 _It's OK now, little one. I'm here. I won't leave your side. Not right now._

 _I'm here._

 _And I will stay._

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 **A/N: Oh boy, where do I even BEGIN for this? This chapter and the last one absolutely KICKED MY ASS! It took me my whole summer to finish this and then some! I worked super hard on EVERY chapter. I don't have a schedule to keep, since I'm a hardcore procrastinatinator. I'm proud of this though, and I hope y'all enjoy the read! If you have questions about the story, send a review, and I'll be glad to answer through PM.**

 **That is all. Goodnight, and enjoy :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Ok, yeah, so why am I putting an author's note for just a chapter this time? Well, I have a big announcement to make:**

 **I'm rewriting Heroes of Popstar. I got hit with a case of writer's block on the story, but I recently got on Discord. And I asked someone to do a critique of the story. Well, it was pretty harsh but fair. I'm changing the main character up so she's not being human anymore, so there's no plotline including a human in a story anymore. To those that liked it, I'm sorry. But I respect this person a LOT. They're an awesome author and an awesome artist. Plus, there's some pieces of the story I could have executed better. Chapter 1, or should I say Episode 1, was** ** _extremely_** **rushed. I didn't introduce Alex's character good enough, and to be honest, I didn't even have much of an idea for a character for Alex. The pieces I did have though, "a rich, intelligent, but kindhearted girl gets this pair of magic gloves that somehow gets her involved in a prophecy". Yeah. Mary-Sueish if you ask me.**

 **Episodes 1 and 2 will be revamped completely. As for the two parter, 3 and 4, I'm gonna keep that mostly the same, but change stuff there.**

 **To those of you that liked the concept of a human coming to Earth and becoming a Star Warrior, I'm incredibly sorry I have to change that. But at this point, I've got no big plan for Alexandria, and I make the second half of the story deviate from her onto another character entirely. (I'm not even gonna specify who here, if you ask me over PM, I'd be glad to explain.)**

 **And if someone bitches to me about how I'm going against content guidelines, yeah, I got news for you: I know, and I don't give a fuck. Wanna know why? Because this is the only way I can let these people that actually read the story know what is going on, there's no way to do a status update here like there is on Deviantart.**

 **If anyone wants me to try to be more specific about why I'm gonna rewrite the story, PM me. That's all, and for those who liked it so far, I'm sorry for the inconvenience.**

 **(And, announcements on other stories, they're pretty much on hiatus, but I'm probably gonna rewrite Meta Knight's Curse too since a lot of people liked that story so much.)**


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